Hors de combat

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Hors de combat is an internationally common French-language term from diplomatic , military and legal usage, which literally means "incapacitated" or "incapacitated". It describes the status of soldiers who no longer take part in the fighting in the context of military conflicts, either due to illness or injury or due to capture . The linguistic use takes place as an attribute , for example in the form "This soldier is hors de combat ". Affected soldiers are particularly protected by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols of 1977, in particular against all actions that are directed against their life, health and physical integrity, their honor and their religious or other convictions. This principle of the unconditional sparing of surrendering, captured and wounded soldiers is one of the oldest principles of international humanitarian law and is considered customary international law .

According to Article 41 of the Additional Protocols of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions, “incapacitated” means “who is under the control of an opposing party”, “who clearly states his intention to surrender” or “who is unconscious or otherwise due to injury or sickness incapable of fighting and therefore unable to defend ". In all three cases the person must refrain from “any hostile act” and must not try to escape in order not to lose the protective status of hors de combat . The attribution of the status hors de combat for passengers of aircraft who jump with a parachute from an aircraft in distress is explicitly prescribed in Article 42 of the Additional Protocols, as long as the persons concerned are still in the air. Airborne troops are exempt from this protection. The application of the hors de combat status to jumping flight personnel was controversial during the drafting of the additional protocols, since jumping over their own territory was seen by a number of the negotiating parties as an attempt to escape and thus a reason for exclusion under Article 41.

literature

  • Kurt Schork: incapacitated. In: Roy Gutman, David Rieff: War Crimes. What everyone should know Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart and Munich 1999, ISBN 3-42-105343-X . Pp. 55-57

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Additional Protocol of June 8, 1977 to the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict. Art. 41 Protection of an opponent who is out of action
  2. ^ Additional Protocol of June 8, 1977 to the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict. Art. 42 Aircraft passengers
  3. ^ Additional Protocol of June 8, 1977 to the Geneva Convention of August 12, 1949 on the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict. Official comment on the 41/42 (English)