Règle correspondante
Belgium
Practice Relating to Rule 7. The Principle of Distinction between Civilian Objects and Military Objectives
Belgium’s Law of War Manual (1983) provides: “A distinction must be made between military objectives and civilian objects.”
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. 26.
Belgium’s Teaching Manual for Soldiers instructs soldiers: “Only attack military objectives.” It also states: “Just as only combatants may be attacked only objects used by the adversary for combat may be subjected to attack.”
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. 10 and 20.
Belgium’s Law of War Manual (1983) states: “A distinction must be made between military objectives and civilian objects.”
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. 26.
Belgium’s Teaching Manual for Soldiers instructs soldiers to “respect civilian objects” and to “not destroy them”.
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. 10.
Belgium’s Law of War Manual (1983) provides: “A distinction must be made between military objectives and civilian objects: the former can be subjected to attack, the later cannot.”
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. 26; see also p. 27.
Belgium’s Penal Code (1867), as amended in 2003, provides:
War crimes envisaged in the 1949 [Geneva] Conventions … and in the [1977 Additional Protocols I and II] … , as well as in Article 8(2)(f) of the [1998 ICC Statute], and listed below, … constitute crimes under international law and shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the present title … :
…
14. intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives.
Belgium, Penal Code, 1867, as amended on 5 August 2003, Chapter III, Title I bis, Article 136 quater, § 1(14).
Belgium’s Law relating to the Repression of Grave Breaches of International Humanitarian Law (1993), as amended in 2003, provides:
War crimes envisaged in the 1949 [Geneva] Conventions … and in the [1977 Additional Protocols I and II] … , as well as in Article 8(2)(f) of the [1998 ICC Statute], and listed below, … constitute crimes under international law and shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the present title … :
…
8 bis. intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives.
Belgium, Law relating to the Repression of Grave Breaches of International Humanitarian Law, 1993, as amended on 23 April 2003, Article 1ter, § 1(8bis).
The Report on the Practice of Belgium states that Belgium considered itself bound by the prohibition of attacks on civilian objects even before the adoption of the 1977 Additional Protocol I.
Report on the Practice of Belgium, 1997, Chapter 1.3.
In a communiqué issued in 1973, the Belgian Government condemned the deliberate destruction of a Libyan Boeing by Israeli air force units because it “condemns all violence of which innocent civilians are the victims”.
Belgium, Government communiqué, 22 February 1973, RBDI, Vol. XI, 1975, p. 375.
