Wikidata:WikiProject Civil Defense


The international distinctive sign of civil defense, defined by the rules of international humanitarian law (Q381148) and to be used as a protective sign (Q2252429)
Special sign for works and installations containing dangerous forces (Three Orange Circles (Q116063987)) such as dam (Q12323), levee (Q105190) and nuclear power plant (Q134447)

Definition edit

(a) "civil defence" means the performance of some or all of the undermentioned humanitarian tasks intended to protect the civilian population against the dangers, and to help it to recover from the immediate effects, of hostilities or disasters and also to provide the conditions necessary for its survival. These tasks are:
  • (i) warning;
  • (ii) evacuation;
  • (iii) management of shelters;
  • (iv) management of blackout measures;
  • (v) rescue;
  • (vi) medical services, including first aid, and religious assistance;
  • (vii) fire-fighting;
  • (viii) detection and marking of danger areas;
  • (ix) decontamination and similar protective measures;
  • (x) provision of emergency accommodation and supplies;
  • (xi) emergency assistance in the restoration and maintenance of order in distressed areas;
  • (xii) emergency repair of indispensable public utilities;
  • (xiii) emergency disposal of the dead;
  • (xiv) assistance in the preservation of objects essential for survival;
  • (xv) complementary activities necessary to carry out any of the tasks mentioned above, including, but not limited to, planning and organization;

(b) "civil defence organizations" means those establishments and other units which are organized or authorized by the competent authorities of a Party to the conflict to perform any of the tasks mentioned under sub-paragraph (a), and which are assigned and devoted exclusively to such tasks;

(c) "personnel" of civil defence organizations means those persons assigned by a Party to the conflict exclusively to the performance of the tasks mentioned under sub-paragraph (a), including personnel assigned by the competent authority of that Party exclusively to the administration of these organizations;

(d) "matériel" of civil defence organizations means equipment, supplies and transports used by these organizations for the performance of the tasks mentioned under sub-paragraph (a).

— Article 61 -- Definitions and scope of Protocol I (Q2229133)
(...)

7. In order to facilitate the identification of the objects protected by this article, the Parties to the conflict may mark them with a special sign consisting of a group of three bright orange circles placed on the same axis, as specified in Article 16 of Annex I to this Protocol [Article 17 of Amended Annex]. The absence of such marking in no way relieves any Party to the conflict of its obligations under this Article.

— Article 56 - Protection of works and installations containing dangerous forces of Protocol I (Q2229133)
1. It is prohibited to make improper use of the distinctive emblem of the red cross, red crescent or red lion and sun or of other emblems, signs or signals provided for by the Conventions or by this Protocol. It is also prohibited to misuse deliberately in an armed conflict other internationally recognized protective emblems, signs or signals, including the flag of truce, and the protective emblem of cultural property.

2. It is prohibited to make use of the distinctive emblem of the United Nations, except as authorized by that Organization.

— Article 38 -- Recognized emblems of Protocol I (Q2229133)


Please check Wikidata:WikiProject_Civil_Defense/Normative_references. Some less intuitive facts:

  • Article 65 allows light individual weapons for the purpose of maintaining order or for self-defence.
  • Article 67 allows Members of the armed forces and military units assigned to civil defence organizations under conditions as (a) such personnel and such units are permanently assigned and exclusively devoted to the performance of any of the tasks mentioned in Article 61;

Items edit

Main items edit

Other items edit

Items disjoint with the focus edit

Items in this group are likely to cause confusion, so special care must be done to exclude them. Please check Wikidata:WikiProject_Civil_Defense/Normative_references.

Properties edit

Main properties edit

Other properties edit

  • ...

Data edit

Topics of interest for data items edit

Based on Article 61 of Protocol I (Q2229133):

  • (i) warning;
  • (ii) evacuation;
  • (iii) management of shelters;
  • (iv) management of blackout measures;
  • (v) rescue;
    • rescue (Q1341429)      : comprises responsive operations that usually involve the saving of life, or prevention of injury
  • (vi) medical services, including first aid, and religious assistance;
  • (vii) fire-fighting;
  • (viii) detection and marking of danger areas;
  • (ix) decontamination and similar protective measures;
  • (x) provision of emergency accommodation and supplies;
    • shelter (Q7493941)      : basic architectural structure or building providing protection from the local environment
  • (xi) emergency assistance in the restoration and maintenance of order in distressed areas;
  • (xii) emergency repair of indispensable public utilities;
  • (xiii) emergency disposal of the dead;
  • (xiv) assistance in the preservation of objects essential for survival;
  • (xv) complementary activities necessary to carry out any of the tasks mentioned above, including, but not limited to, planning and organization;

Recognized emblems edit

  See main article https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protective_sign. Note that some emblems are not focus on the Civil Defense project (e.g. Flag of the United Nations), and the ones related to IFRC also have WikiProject at WikiProject IFRC

Based on Geneva Conventions (Q133536), in special Article 38 -- Recognized emblem of Protocol I (Q2229133)

Data examples edit

Examples of organizations edit

Note: except maybe for international level (because list is smaller), these examples are only for samples of what exists which were already tagged or might be not trivial to define as being or not under civil defense organization. This list also likely to change or be removed entirely.

List sorted by year of inception.

International level edit


National level edit
Sub national level edit

Other examples edit

Queries edit

See the lists on #Subpages for some examples.


Subpages edit

Participants edit

The participants listed below can be notified using the following template in discussions:
{{Ping project|Civil Defense}}


Related Projects on Wikidata edit