In this article the author examines the legal protections of "unlawful combatants" under international humanitarian law – a subject which has become again of great interest as a consequence of the armed conflict between the U.S. led coalition and Afghanistan in the aftermath of the events of September 11. Since the term “unlawful combatants" is not a term, which may be found in treaties of international humanitarian law, questions relating to the status and protections of such persons consistently arise.” The term is generally understood as encompassing all persons taking a direct part in hostilities without being entitled to do so and who upon falling into the power of the enemy are not entitled to prisoners of war status. Given that "unlawful combatants" are thus not protected by the third Geneva Convention of 1949, the author focuses specifically on the controversially debated question of whether "unlawful combatants" fall into the personal scope of application of the fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Based on this assessment he develops the specific protections applicable to "unlawful combatants".