Côte d’Ivoire
Practice Relating to Rule 30. Persons and Objects Displaying the Distinctive Emblem
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 must be protected?
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- a person displaying the emblem of the red cross (red crescent),
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Lesson 2. Identification
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II.2 Persons and objects under special protection
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- a person displaying the emblem of the red cross (red crescent),
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Lesson 3. Rules of behaviour in combat
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[Basic Rule No. 11]:
Respect persons and objects bearing
- the emblem of the red cross, red crystal or red crescent,
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[Observation]:
These persons and objects benefit from a special protection according to the Geneva Conventions.
In Book II (Instruction of non-commissioned officers and officers), the Teaching Manual provides:
1.2.2. Additional Protocol III of 2005
In 2005, a third Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 was adopted. This treaty established an additional emblem, the red crystal, which benefits from the same status as the existing emblems of the red cross and red crescent.
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According to the law, this emblem offers the same protection as the red cross [and] the red crescent to the personnel, the establishments or the vehicles of the military medical services; to the personnel of National Societies; [and] to the staff and structures of the ICRC and the International Federation [of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies].
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 buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;
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4 - other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of an international character, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of the following acts:
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- intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transport, and personnel using the distinctive emblems of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law;
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Article 139-1
The provisions of paragraphs 3 and 4 of the above article 139 do not apply to situations of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence or other acts of a similar nature.