Related Rule
Mexico
Practice Relating to Rule 50. Destruction and Seizure of Property of an Adversary
Mexico’s Army and Air Force Manual (2009) states: “The States party to the [1949] Geneva Conventions undertake to: … prohibit … the destruction of civilian property.”
Mexico, Manual de Derecho Internacional Humanitario para el Ejército y la Fuerza Área Mexicanos, Ministry of National Defence, June 2009, § 80(C); see also § 104.
Mexico’s IHL Guidelines (2009) states: “War crimes include … the wanton destruction of cities, towns and villages, [and] devastation not justified by military necessity”.
Mexico, Cartilla de Derecho Internacional Humanitario, Ministry of National Defence, 2009, § 5.
In a section entitled “Basic rules of conduct in armed conflict”, the Guidelines also states: “Respect the rights of the civilian population in combat zones, … protect their property. It is strictly prohibited to commit … arson or use any other means to put pressure on the civilian population.”
Mexico, Cartilla de Derecho Internacional Humanitario, Ministry of National Defence, 2009, § 14(e).
In the same section, the Guidelines further states: “Do not cause unnecessary destruction.”
Mexico, Cartilla de Derecho Internacional Humanitario, Ministry of National Defence, 2009, § 14(g).
Mexico’s Code of Military Justice (1933), as amended in 1996, punishes “anyone who, without being absolutely required by war operations, burns buildings [or] devastates crops”.
Mexico, Code of Military Justice, 1933, as amended in 1996, Article 209.
The Code also punishes “anyone who, taking advantage of his own authority or the authority of the armed forces, maliciously and arbitrarily destroys … goods or other objects belonging to another person, when it is not required by military operations”. It further punishes the “devastation of farms, plantations, agricultural lands, forests or public roads of communication”.
Mexico, Code of Military Justice, 1933, as amended in 1996, Article 334.
