France
Practice Relating to Rule 147. Reprisals against Protected Objects
Section A. Civilian objects in general
France’s Disciplinary Regulations (1975), as amended, states: “By virtue of international conventions regularly ratified or approved: … it is prohibited [to soldiers in combat] … to take hostages, to engage in reprisals or collective punishments”.
France’s LOAC Manual (2001), in the chapter dealing with means and methods of warfare, states: “The law of armed conflict prohibits … the methods of warfare which consist in the recourse: … to reprisals against non-military objectives.” It further refers,
inter alia, to Articles 20 and 51–56 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I and states: “Reprisals are prohibited against … civilian property”.
At the CDDH, France made a proposal for a draft article on reprisals within the 1977 Additional Protocol I – which it later withdrew – which read,
inter alia, as follows: “3. … The measures may not involve any actions prohibited by the Geneva Conventions of 1949.”