Related Rule
Belgium
Practice Relating to Rule 47. Attacks against Persons Hors de Combat
Section B. Specific categories of persons hors de combat
Belgium’s Field Regulations (1964) states: “It is forbidden to mistreat … an enemy, who having laid down his arms, has surrendered at discretion.”
Belgium, Règlement sur le Service en Campagne, Règlement IF 47, Ministère de la Défense Nationale, Etat-Major Général, Force Terrestre, Direction Supérieure de la Tactique, Direction Générale du Planning, Entraînement et Organisation, 1964, § 23.
Belgium’s Law of War Manual (1983) provides: “It is prohibited to kill or injure an adversary who, having laid down his arms or having no longer means of defence, has surrendered ‘at discretion’, i.e. unconditionally.”
Belgium, Droit Pénal et Disciplinaire Militaire et Droit de la Guerre, Deuxième Partie, Droit de la Guerre, Ecole Royale Militaire, par J. Maes, Chargé de cours, Avocat-général près la Cour Militaire, D/1983/1187/029, 1983, p. 33.
Belgium’s Teaching Manual for Officers (1994) stipulates: “Any adversary hors de combat may no longer be made the object of attack. This is the case of combatants who surrender, who are wounded or sick [or] shipwrecked.”
Belgium, Droit de la Guerre, Manuel d’Instruction pour Officiers, Etat-Major Général, Division Opérations, 1994, Part I, Title II, p. 34.
Belgium’s Teaching Manual for Soldiers states that surrendering soldiers may not be fired at. It explains: “The intention to surrender may be expressed in different ways: laid down arms, raised hand, white flag.” The manual also provides:
The shipwrecked do not constitute any longer a military threat. [Wounded and shipwrecked] combatants obviously lose their protection and may be attacked if they themselves open fire … For the same reasons of humanity, the wounded and sick must be spared.
Belgium, Droit de la Guerre, Dossier d’Instruction pour Soldat, à l’attention des officiers instructeurs, JS3, Etat-Major Général, Forces Armées belges, undated, pp. 15 and 16.
