Règle correspondante
Italy
Practice Relating to Rule 39. Use of Cultural Property for Military Purposes
Italy’s LOAC Elementary Rules Manual (1991) states:
13. Specifically protected objects may not become military objectives …
14. The immunity of a marked cultural object may be withdrawn in case of imperative military necessity.
…
62. [In defence] the immunity of a marked cultural object shall only be withdrawn when the fulfilment of the mission absolutely so requires. The withdrawal shall only take place to the extent necessary. Advance warning and removal of distinctive signs shall make the situation clear to the enemy.
Italy, Regole elementari di diritto di guerra, SMD-G-012, Stato Maggiore della Difesa, I Reparto, Ufficio Addestramento e Regolamenti, Rome, 1991, §§ 13–14 and 62.
Italy’s IHL Manual (1991) states: “Cultural property and places of worship are entitled to protection in all circumstances provided they are not illicitly used for military purposes.”
Italy, Manuale di diritto umanitario, Introduzione e Volume I, Usi e convenzioni di Guerra, SMD-G-014, Stato Maggiore della Difesa, I Reparto, Ufficio Addestramento e Regolamenti, Rome, 1991, Vol. I, § 12.
Upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, Italy stated: “If and so long as the objectives protected by Article 53 are unlawfully used for military purposes, they will thereby lose protection.”
Italy, Declarations made upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, 27 February 1986, § 9.
(emphasis added)