Règle correspondante
Belgium
Practice Relating to Rule 147. Reprisals against Protected Objects
Belgium’s Law of War Manual (1983), citing several examples of jurisprudence and referring to Articles 4 and 33 of the 1949 Geneva Convention IV, states: “The persons protected by the Geneva Conventions (… civilians) may not be made the object of reprisals. Therefore, [reprisals] may be directed only against combatants, non-protected property and a restricted group of non-protected civilians.”
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. 36.
Belgium’s Teaching Manual for Soldiers, in the part containing exercises (questions and answers) for the training of soldiers, gives a negative response to the question as to whether civilian property may be destroyed in reprisal.
Belgium, Droit de la Guerre, Dossier d’Instruction pour Soldat, à l’attention des officiers instructeurs, JS3, Etat-Major Général, Forces Armées belges, undated, p. 86.
Belgium’s Law of War Manual (1983), citing several examples of jurisprudence, states:
Property protected by the [1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property] may not be made the object of reprisals. Therefore, [reprisals] may be directed only against combatants, non-protected property and a restricted group of non-protected civilians.
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. 36.
