Related Rule
France
Practice Related to Rule 95. Forced Labour
Section B. Compelling persons to serve in the forces of a hostile power
France’s Disciplinary Regulations (1975), as amended, prohibits “compelling nationals of the adverse party to take part in war operations against their own country”.
France, Règlement de Discipline Générale dans les Armées, Decree No. 75-675 of 28 July 1975, replacing Decree No. 66-749, completed by Decree of 11 October 1978, implemented by Instruction No. 52000/DEF/C/5 of 10 December 1979, and modified by Decree of 12 July 1982, Ministère de la Défense, Etat-Major de l’Armée de Terre, Bureau Emploi, Article 9 bis (2).
France’s LOAC Summary Note (1992) stipulates that “compelling [prisoners of war] to serve in enemy armed forces” is a war crime under the law of armed conflict.
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, § 3.4.
France’s LOAC Manual (2001) provides that prisoners of war “shall not be compelled to take part in activities with a military character or objective”.
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. 102.
France’s Penal Code (1992), as amended in 2010, states that the following acts committed by someone acting on behalf of a belligerent power constitute war crimes in an international armed conflict:
1. Compelling a person protected by the international law of armed conflict to serve in its armed forces;
2. Compelling nationals of the hostile power to take part in the operations of war directed against their own country, even if they were in the service of the belligerent power before the commencement of the war.
France, Penal Code, 1992, as amended in 2010, Article 461-20.
In its judgement in the Wagner case in 1946, the Permanent Military Tribunal at Strasbourg in France ruled that the introduction of compulsory military service for Alsatian civilians was a war crime.
France, Permanent Military Tribunal at Strasbourg, Wagner case, Judgment, 3 May 1946.
