Canada
Practice Relating to Rule 22. The Principle of Precautions against the Effects of Attacks
Canada’s LOAC Manual (1999) states:
To protect civilians, the parties to a conflict shall, to the maximum extent feasible … take other necessary precautions to protect the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian objects under their control against the dangers resulting from military operations.
Canada’s LOAC Manual (2001) states in its chapter on targeting:
To protect civilians, the parties to a conflict shall, to the maximum extent feasible:
…
c. take other necessary precautions to protect the civilian population, individual civilians and civilian objects under their control against the dangers resulting from military operations.
At the CDDH, Canada stated that the word “feasible” when used in the 1977 Additional Protocol I, for example, in Articles 57 and 58, “refers to what is practicable or practically possible, taking into account all circumstances existing at the relevant time, including those circumstances relevant to the success of military operations”.
Upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, Canada stated: “The word ‘feasible’ means that which is practicable or practically possible, taking into account all circumstances ruling at the time, including humanitarian and military considerations.”