Azerbaijan
Practice Relating to Rule 1. The Principle of Distinction between Civilians and Combatants
Azerbaijan’s Law concerning the Protection of Civilian Persons and the Rights of Prisoners of War (1995) provides that, in international and non-international armed conflicts, attacks against civilians are prohibited.
Azerbaijan’s Criminal Code (1999) provides that “directing attacks against the civilian population or against individual civilians who do not take part in hostilities” constitutes a war crime in international and non-international armed conflicts.
In 1993, the Ministry of the Interior of Azerbaijan ordered that troops “in zones of combat, during military operations … must not shoot at children, women and elderly without defence”.