Côte d’Ivoire
Practice Relating to Rule 96. Hostage-Taking
Côte d’Ivoire’s Teaching Manual (2007) provides in Book I (Basic instruction):
Lesson 3. Rules on behaviour in combat
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I.1 Basic rules
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[Basic Rule No. 8]:
Do not take hostages.
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[Observation]:
These acts are inconsistent with a humane treatment of persons in your power …
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I.2 Specific rules
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Civilians
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12. Protect them against ill-treatment
- Acts of revenge and taking of hostages are prohibited.
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Lesson 4. Breaches and repression of violations of IHL
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I. Grave violations
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They are enumerated by the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols, as well as by the Ivorian Penal Code.
They are:
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- taking of hostages.
In Book II (Instruction of non-commissioned officers and officers), the Teaching Manual provides:
I.1.1. War crimes
They are grave violations of IHL mentioned in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, committed during armed conflict.
Examples: … taking of hostages, etc.
In Book III, Volume 2 (Instruction of second-year trainee officers), the Teaching Manual provides:
Lesson 2. Protection
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I.1. Protection of the civilian population
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Geneva Convention IV prohibits using the civilian population as a shield … Pillage, hostage-taking and reprisal measures against civilians are equally prohibited.
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I.2. Protection of combatants and associated personnel
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A person hors de combat must be collected and protected in conformity with the provisions of Geneva Convention I for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick. In this respect, they must not be the object:
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- of hostage-taking,
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Lesson 4. Violations and repression
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I.3. War crimes
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This is by far the breach which can take the most varied forms. It relates to the grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, namely the following acts directed against the persons or objects protected by these acts:
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- taking civilians as hostages.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Penal Code (1981), as amended in 1995, provides that in time of war or occupation, the organizing, ordering or carrying out of hostage-taking constitutes a “crime against the civilian population”.
Côte d’Ivoire’s Penal Code (1981), as amended in 2015, states:
Article 139
Whoever commits a war crime is punished with life imprisonment.
War crimes are:
1 - grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts against persons or property protected under the provisions of the relevant Geneva Convention:
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- taking of hostages;
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3 - in the case of an armed conflict not of an international character, serious violations of article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, namely, any of the following acts committed against persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention or any other cause:
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- taking of hostages;
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Article 139-1
The provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 of the above article 139 do not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature.
Article 139-2
Protected persons referred to in article 139 are in particular:
1 - civilian or military wounded, sick or shipwrecked;
2 - civilians in the power of the enemy;
3 - persons who do not take part directly or who no longer take part in hostilities;
4 - medical and religious personnel, whether civilian or military;
5 - persons deprived of their liberty for reasons related to the armed conflict, whether they are interned or detained.