Australia
Practice Relating to Rule 65. Perfidy
Section G. Simulation of protected status by using the United Nations emblem or uniform
Australia’s Commanders’ Guide (1994) states: “Acts which constitute perfidy include feigning of … protected status by the use of protective symbols, signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations.”
Australia’s Defence Force Manual (1994) provides: “Acts which constitute perfidy include feigning of … protected status by the use of protective symbols, signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations.”
Australia’s LOAC Manual (2006) states: “Acts which constitute perfidy include feigning of … protected status by the use of protective symbols, signs, emblems or uniforms of the United Nations (UN)”.
In its chapter on “Maritime Operations”, the manual states that warships and auxiliary vessels are prohibited at all times from actively simulating the status of “vessels protected by the United Nations (UN) flag”.
The manual further states: “Perfidious acts also include the launching of an attack while feigning: … UN status”.
In its chapter on “Compliance”, the manual states that the 1977 Additional Protocol I extends the definition of grave breaches to include “the perfidious use of the distinctive emblem of the Red Cross, Red Crescent, Red Crystal and other Red Cross societies, or of other protective signs recognised by the Conventions or the Protocol”.
The LOAC Manual (2006) replaces both the Defence Force Manual (1994) and the Commanders’ Guide (1994).
Australia’s Geneva Conventions Act (1957), as amended in 2002, provides: “A person who, in Australia or elsewhere, commits a grave breach … of [the 1977 Additional Protocol I] is guilty of an indictable offence.”
The grave breaches provisions in this Act were removed in 2002 and incorporated into the Criminal Code Act (1995).
Australia’s ICC (Consequential Amendments) Act (2002) incorporates in the Criminal Code the war crimes defined in the 1998 ICC Statute, including “improper use of a flag, insignia or uniform of the United Nations … [when] the perpetrator’s conduct results in death or serious personal injury”, in international armed conflicts.