Canada
Practice Relating to Rule 116. Accounting for the Dead
Section A. Identification of the dead prior to disposal
Canada’s LOAC Manual (1999) provides: “Parties to the conflict shall endeavour to reach agreements to allow teams to … identify … the dead from battlefield areas.”
The manual further states: “Burial or cremation must be preceded by a careful examination of the bodies (if possible by a medical examination), with a view to confirming death, establishing identity and enabling a report to be made.”
Canada’s Code of Conduct (2001) provides: “Burial must be preceded by a careful examination, and if possible, by a medical examination of the bodies in order to confirm death, establish identity and make appropriate reports.”
Canada’s LOAC Manual (2001) states in its chapter on the treatment of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked:
924. Search for missing and dead
1. The Geneva Conventions impose certain obligations on Detaining Powers with regard to the burial and reporting of dead personnel belonging to the adverse party. [The 1977 Additional Protocol I] also imposes obligations to search for the missing and to report upon the disposal of the remains of the dead.
…
3. To facilitate the finding of missing personnel, parties to the conflict shall endeavour to reach agreements to allow teams to search for, identify and recover the dead from battlefield areas. They may also attach to such teams representatives of the adverse party when the search is taking place in areas controlled by the adverse party. While carrying out these duties, members of the teams shall be respected and protected.
925. Care of remains
…
3. Burial or cremation must be preceded by a careful examination of the bodies (if possible by a medical examination), with a view to confirming death, establishing identity and enabling a report to be made.
Canada’s Prisoner of War Handling and Detainees Manual (2004) states:
As a general principle, subject to any religious or ethnic variations, the funeral arrangements for a PW [prisoner of war] are to be the same as those, which would be made for a member of the Canadian Forces dying in the AOO [Area of Operations]. In particular, the disposal of the remains of a deceased PW are to be carried out [as follows]:
a. … Before burial or cremation takes place, there is to be a medical examination of the body in order to confirm death and, where necessary, to identify the remains. It will be normal practice for an NIS [National Investigation Service] Investigator to be present during this post mortem investigation.
Canada’s Code of Conduct (2005) states: “Burial must be preceded by a careful examination, and if possible, by a medical examination of the bodies in order to confirm death, establish identity and make appropriate reports.”