Côte d’Ivoire
Practice Relating to Rule 7. The Principle of Distinction between Civilian Objects and Military Objectives
Section C. Attacks against civilian objects in general
Côte d’Ivoire’s Teaching Manual (2007) provides in Book I (Basic instruction):
Lesson 1 Basic notions of IHL
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The principle of distinction specifies who and what can be attacked and who and what cannot be attacked.
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- Who and what cannot be attacked?
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- … civilian objects.
In Book III, Volume 1 (Instruction of first-year trainee officers), the Teaching Manual provides: “[O]ne must always distinguish between military objectives, which can be attacked, and civilian objects, which must be respected.”
Côte d’Ivoire’s Penal Code (1981), as amended in 2015, states:
Article 139
Whoever commits a war crime is punished with life imprisonment.
War crimes are:
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2 - other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in international armed conflict, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
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- intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects, that is, objects which are not military objectives[.]