The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said today all parties to the war in Iraq had an obligation not to allow broadcast pictures of their prisoners.
An ICRC spokeswoman in Kuwait said pictures shown on television and in newspapers of Iraqi prisoners surrendering to US-led forces and of US soldiers captured by Iraqis were both prohibited by the Geneva Convention.
"It [the prohibition] applies to all parties. For us, the law is clear, and all the parties involved in this war were signatories," she said.
The ICRC has started approaching the relevant authorities to try and get access to all those taken prisoner.
Yesterday President George W. Bush has warned Iraqis they would be tried for war crimes if they abused prisoners after Iraq displayed five captured US soldiers and several corpses on television.
Mr Bush also warned Americans that US and British forces faced a stiff battle to topple President Saddam Hussein.
"I can assure the American people that we're making good progress, and also can assure them that this is just the beginning of a tough fight," Mr Bush said on his return to the White House from the Camp David presidential retreat.
Iraqi television filmed five shaken US soldiers - one an injured woman - and the bloodied bodies of up to eight uniformed men, all apparently captured or killed southeast of Nassiriya.
The footage of the first known US prisoners of war in the conflict included brief interviews with the five and was relayed around much of the world by Arabic network Al-Jazeera.
US Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld called the video Iraqi propaganda and said it violated the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of prisoners of war.