القاعدة ذات الصلة
France
Practice Relating to Rule 8. Definition of Military Objectives
France’s LOAC Teaching Note (2000) states:
Military objectives are those military units and objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offer a definite military advantage.
France, Fiche didactique relative au droit des conflits armés, Directive of the Ministry of Defence, 4 January 2000, annexed to the Directive No. 147 of the Ministry of Defence of 4 January 2000, p. 2.
France’s LOAC Manual (2001) states:
Regarding objects, military objectives are limited to those objects which by their nature, location, purpose or use make an effective contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offer a definite military advantage.
France, Manuel de droit des conflits armés, Ministère de la Défense, Direction des Affaires Juridiques, Sous-Direction du droit international humanitaire et du droit européen, Bureau du droit des conflits armés, 2001, p. 90.
Upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, France stated that the term “military advantage” as used in Article 52(2) of the Protocol was understood to refer to “the advantage expected from the attack as a whole and not from isolated or particular parts of the attack”.
France, Reservations and declarations made upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, 11 April 2001, § 10.
According to France’s LOAC Summary Note (1992), combatants are military objectives.
France, Fiche de Synthèse sur les Règles Applicables dans les Conflits Armés, Note No. 432/DEF/EMA/OL.2/NP, Général de Corps d’Armée Voinot (pour l’Amiral Lanxade, Chef d’Etat-major des Armées), 1992, § 1.2; see also Fiche didactique relative au droit des conflits armés, Directive of the Ministry of Defence, 4 January 2000, annexed to the Directive No. 147 of the Ministry of Defence of 4 January 2000, p. 2 (“military units”).
France’s LOAC Summary Note (1992) considers military establishments, installations, and materiel and positions of tactical importance to be military objectives.
France, Fiche de Synthèse sur les Règles Applicables dans les Conflits Armés, Note No. 432/DEF/EMA/OL.2/NP, Général de Corps d’Armée Voinot (pour l’Amiral Lanxade, Chef d’Etat-major des Armées), 1992, Part I, § 1.2.
According to France’s LOAC Summary Note (1992), “military means of transportation” are military objectives.
France, Fiche de Synthèse sur les Règles Applicables dans les Conflits Armés, Note No. 432/DEF/EMA/OL.2/NP, Général de Corps d’Armée Voinot (pour l’Amiral Lanxade, Chef d’Etat-major des Armées), 1992, § 1.2.
France’s LOAC Summary Note (1992) includes “areas of land of tactical importance” among military objectives.
France, Fiche de Synthèse sur les Règles Applicables dans les Conflits Armés, Note No. 432/DEF/EMA/OL.2/NP, Général de Corps d’Armée Voinot (pour l’Amiral Lanxade, Chef d’Etat-major des Armées), 1992, Part I, § 1.2.
In a declaration made upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, France stated:
A specific zone may be considered as a military objective if, due to its location or for any other criteria mentioned in Article 52 [of the 1977 Additional Protocol I], its total or partial destruction, capture or neutralisation in the circumstances governing at the time offers a decisive military advantage.
France, Reservations and declarations made upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, 11 April 2001, § 12.
In an interpretative declaration made upon ratification of the 1998 ICC Statute, France stated:
The Government of the French Republic declares that a specific area may be considered a “military objective” as referred to in article 8, paragraph 2 (b) as a whole if, by reason of its situation, nature, use, location, total or partial destruction, capture of neutralization, taking into account the circumstances of the moment, it offers a decisive military advantage.
France, Interpretative declarations made upon ratification of the 1998 ICC Statute, 9 June 2000, § 6.
