New Zealand
Practice Relating to Rule 97. Human Shields
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states regarding restrictions on targeting: “If the enemy is deliberately using civilians to shield military objectives the commander may take this into account in making his decision.”
It also restates the provisions of Article 51 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I.
The manual further states: “The presence of a protected person in a particular place or area must not be used to give that place immunity from military operations (for example by placing trainloads of protected persons in railway sidings alongside ammunition trains).”
The manual adds: “It is forbidden to use the presence of protected persons to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.”
Under New Zealand’s International Crimes and ICC Act (2000), war crimes include the crime defined in Article 8(2)(b)(xxiii) of the 1998 ICC Statute.