القاعدة ذات الصلة
Colombia
Practice Relating to Rule 47. Attacks against Persons Hors de Combat
Colombia’s Circular on the Fundamental Rules of IHL (1992) states: “It is prohibited to kill or injure an adversary who … is hors de combat.”
Colombia, Transcripción Normas Fundamentales del Derecho Humanitario Aplicables en los Conflictos Armados, Circular No. 033/DIPL-SERPO-526, Policía Nacional, Dirección General, Santafé de Bogotá, 14 May 1992, § 2.
Colombia’s Directive on IHL (1993) considers an “attack against a person hors de combat” as a punishable offence.
Colombia, Normas de Derecho Internacional Humanitario, Directiva Permanente No. 017, Ministerio de Defensa Nacional, 17 August 1993, Section III(D).
Colombia’s Penal Code (2000) imposes a criminal sanction on anyone who, during an armed conflict, refuses to give quarter or attacks persons hors de combat.
Colombia, Penal Code, 2000, Article 145.
In 2007, in the Constitutional Case No. C-291/07, the Plenary Chamber of Colombia’s Constitutional Court stated:
The principle of distinction affords protection not only to civilians, but also to a broader category of “non-combatants”, persons who have participated in hostilities and have been placed hors de combat ... The protection of persons hors de combat is provided for in Article 3 Common to the [1949] Geneva Conventions and Article 7 of their [1977] Additional Protocol II and is a rule of customary law.
Colombia, Constitutional Court, Constitutional Case No. C-291/07, Judgment of 25 April 2007, pp. 85; see also p. 97.
[footnote in original omitted]The Court further held that “under customary law, … persons hors de combat who take a direct part in hostilities shall lose the protection afforded by the principle of distinction if and for such time as they participate in the conflict”.
Colombia, Constitutional Court, Constitutional Case No. C-291/07, Judgment of 25 April 2007, pp. 84.
(footnote in original omitted)The Court also stated: “Just as in the case of ‘civilians’, persons hors de combat lose the protection provided by the principle of distinction whenever they take a direct part in hostilities if and for such time as this participation lasts.”
Colombia, Constitutional Court, Constitutional Case No. C-291/07, Judgment of 25 April 2007, pp. 85.
(footnote in original omitted)The Court also held: “The principle of distinction is complex and encompasses a number of treaty and customary norms applicable in internal armed conflicts, in addition to, in many cases, enjoying ius cogens status. These rules [include] … the prohibition to attack persons hors de combat”.
Colombia, Constitutional Court, Constitutional Case No. C-291/07, Judgment of 25 April 2007, p. 84–87; see also p. 97.
Colombia’s Circular on the Fundamental Rules of IHL (1992) states: “It is prohibited to kill or injure an adversary who surrenders.”
Colombia, Transcripción Normas Fundamentales del Derecho Humanitario Aplicables en los Conflictos Armados, Circular No. 033/DIPL-SERPO-526, Policía Nacional, Dirección General, Santafé de Bogotá, 14 May 1992, § 2.
Colombia’s Penal Code (2000) imposes a criminal sanction on anyone who, during an armed conflict, commits acts aimed at leaving no survivors or at killing the wounded and sick.
Colombia, Penal Code, 2000, Article 145.
In a case against the State relative to the takeover of the Palacio de Justicia by guerrillas in 1985, a Colombian administrative court cited a document of the Colombian Ministry of Defence stating that a commander should “respect the life of the enemy who offers to surrender”.
Colombia, Cundinamarca Administrative Court, Case No. 4010, Opinion of the Minister of Defence given before the House of Representatives, “Las fuerzas armadas de Colombia y la defensa de las institutiones democráticas”, Record of evidence.
