Related Rule
Switzerland
Practice Relating to Rule 111. Protection of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked against Pillage and Ill-Treatment
Section A. General
Switzerland’s Basic Military Manual (1987) provides: “It is prohibited to despoil the wounded.”
Switzerland, Lois et coutumes de la guerre (Extrait et commentaire), Règlement 51.7/II f, Armée Suisse, 1987, Article 72; see also Droit des gens en temps de guerre, Programme d’instruction fondé sur le Manuel 51.7/III “Lois et coutumes de la guerre”, Cours de base pour recrues de toutes les armes 97.2f, Armée suisse, 1986, p. 19.
Switzerland’s Aide-Memoire on the Ten Basic Rules of the Law of Armed Conflict (2005) states: “I respect civilian property. Pillaging and robbing, even of wounded or dead persons, are strictly prohibited.”
Switzerland, The Ten Basic Rules of the Law of Armed Conflict, Aide-memoire 51.007/IIIe, Swiss Army, issued based on Article 10 of the Ordinance for Organization of the Federal Department for Defence, Civil Protection and Sports dated 7 March 2003, entry into force on 1 July 2005, Rule 6.
Switzerland’s Military Criminal Code (1927), as amended, punishes anyone who, on the battlefield, despoils and pillages the wounded and sick. It also provides for the punishment of anyone who uses violence against the wounded and sick.
Switzerland, Military Criminal Code, 1927, as amended, Articles 139–140.
Switzerland’s Military Criminal Code (1927), as amended in 2007, states: “Any person who, on the battlefield, has laid his or her hands on a … wounded or sick person with the intention to steal, is to be punished with a year imprisonment or less.”
Switzerland, Military Criminal Code, 1927, as amended in 2007, Article 139.
