Canada
Practice Relating to Rule 47. Attacks against Persons Hors de Combat
Canada’s LOAC Manual (1999) states: “It is prohibited to deny quarter”.

It also states: “A combatant who is recognized or who, in the circumstances, should be recognized to be
hors de combat shall not be attacked.”
The manual further states that “making a person the object of attack knowing he is
hors de combat” is a grave breach of the 1977 Additional Protocol I and a war crime.
Canada’s Code of Conduct (2001) provides: “The ‘denial of quarter’ is prohibited.”
Canada’s LOAC Manual (2001) states in its chapter entitled “Combatant Status”: “A combatant who is recognized or who, in the circumstances, should be recognized to be
hors de combat shall not be attacked.”
In its chapter on targeting, the manual further states:
408. Combatants
1. Combatants are legitimate targets and may be attacked unless they have been captured, surrendered, expressed a clear intention to surrender, or are hors de combat (i.e., out of combat), provided they refrain from hostile acts and do not attempt to escape …
…
433. Enemy “hors de combat”
1. A combatant who is recognized or who, in the circumstances, should be recognized to be hors de combat (out of combat) shall not be attacked.
In its chapter on land warfare, the manual also states: “It is prohibited to attack a combatant who is, or should be recognized as being,
hors de combat (out of combat).”
Similarly, in its chapter on air warfare, the manual states: “It is prohibited to attack a combatant who is, or should be recognized as being,
hors de combat (out of combat).”
In its chapter on “War crimes, individual criminal liability and command responsibility”, the manual provides that “making a person the object of attack knowing he is
hors de combat” constitutes a grave breach of the 1977 Additional Protocol I and a war crime.
Canada’s Code of Conduct (2005) instructs: “The ‘denial of quarter’ is prohibited.”
Canada’s Geneva Conventions Act (1985), as amended in 2007, provides: “Every person who, whether within or outside Canada, commits a grave breach [of the 1977 Additional Protocol I] … is guilty of an indictable offence.”