Spain
Practice Relating to Rule 129. The Act of Displacement
Spain’s LOAC Manual (1996) provides:
Mass or individual forced transfers, as well as deportations out of the occupied territory to the territory of the occupying Power or of another country (occupied or not), are prohibited, regardless of the motive.
The manual further states that it “is a grave breach which shall be qualified as a war crime … deportation or forced transfer of population”.
Spain’s LOAC Manual (2007) states: “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of persons from occupied territory to the territory of the occupying power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of the motive.”
Spain’s Military Criminal Code (1985) and Penal Code (1995) punish anyone who deports or forcibly transfers protected persons.
Spain’s Penal Code (1995), as amended in 2003, states:
Any person who [commits any of the following acts] during armed conflict is punished with 10 to 15 years’ imprisonment, without prejudice to a penalty for the results of such acts:
…
4. Deporting or forcibly transferring … protected persons.
In 1993, during a debate in the UN Security Council, Spain condemned the forced displacement in Georgia.
Spain’s LOAC Manual (1996) provides: “The occupying Power can undertake a total or partial evacuation of a given occupied area if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.”
The manual adds:
Evacuations may not involve the displacement of protected persons outside the bounds of the occupied territory except when for material reasons it is impossible to avoid such displacement.
Spain’s LOAC Manual (2007) states:
The occupying power may undertake total or partial evacuation of a given area if the security of the population or imperative military reasons requires such action.
Such evacuations may not involve the displacement of protected persons outside the bounds of the occupied territory except when for material reasons it is impossible to avoid such displacement.