Source: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/por/docs/v2_cou_au_rule28
Timestamp: 2020-02-25 07:37:12
Document Index: 591186754

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 972', '§ 538', '§ 964', '§ 972', '§ 9', '§ 5', '§ 9', '§ 5', '§ 268', '§ 268', '§ 268', '§ 268', '§ 268']

Australia’s Commanders’ Guide (1994) provides: “Civilian medical facilities … are not to be made the target of attack or unnecessarily destroyed. Military medical … facilities and equipment are also entitled to general protection under the Geneva Conventions.”
Military medical personnel, facilities and equipment are also entitled to general protection under the Geneva Conventions. However, they may lose this protection if they engage in acts harmful to the enemy. Before the protection of medical personnel and facilities is lost, a warning will normally be provided and reasonable time allowed to permit cessation of improper activities. In extreme cases, overriding military necessity may preclude such a warning.
Australia’s Defence Force Manual (1994) states: “Medical facilities on land … must be respected and protected at all times and must not be attacked … Medical units are establishments, whether military or civilian, organised for medical purposes, and may be fixed or mobile, permanent or temporary.”
Australia, Manual on Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Force Publication, Operations Series, ADFP 37 – Interim Edition, 1994, §§ 972–973; see also §§ 538 and 964.
Military medical personnel, facilities and equipment are also entitled to general protection. However, they may lose this protection if they engage in acts harmful to the enemy. Before the protection of medical personnel and facilities is lost, a warning will normally be provided and reasonable time allowed to permit cessation of improper activities. In extreme cases, overriding military necessity may preclude such a warning.
Australia, Manual on Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Force Publication, Operations Series, ADFP 37 – Interim Edition, 1994, § 964; see also § 972.
Australia’s LOAC Manual (2006) states: “Medical facilities on land … must be respected and protected at all times and must not be attacked”.
Australia, The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Doctrine Publication 06.4, Australian Defence Headquarters, 11 May 2006, § 9.78; see also §§ 5.41, 9.68–9.69 and 9.79.
The manual’s Glossary defines “medical units” as follows:
Establishments and other units, whether military or civilian, organised for medical purposes, namely the search for, collection, transportation, diagnosis or treatment including first aid treatment of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked or for the prevention of disease. The term includes hospitals and other similar units, blood transfusion centres, preventative medicine centres and institutes, medical depots and the medical and pharmaceutical stores of such units. Medical units may be fixed or mobile, permanent or temporary.
The manual also states: “Among other war crimes generally recognised as forming part of the customary LOAC are … attacking a privileged or protected building”.
The manual further states that loss of protection from attack may occur under the following circumstances:
Australia, The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Doctrine Publication 06.4, Australian Defence Headquarters, 11 May 2006, § 9.69; see also § 5.42.
The manual states that, in the context of siege warfare: “hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, should not be made the specific subject of attack unless they are being used for military purposes, subject to warning requirements”.
The manual further states: “Among other war crimes generally recognised as forming part of the customary LOAC are … use of a privileged building for improper purposes”.
Australia’s War Crimes Act (1945) considers “any war crime within the meaning of the instrument of appointment of the Board of Inquiry [set up to investigate war crimes committed by enemy subjects]” as a war crime, including the deliberate bombardment of hospitals.
Australia, Criminal Code Act, 1995, as amended to 2007, Chapter 8, § 268.46, p. 331 and § 268.66, p. 345.
The Criminal Code Act further states with respect to war crimes that are other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in an armed conflict that is not an international armed conflict:
(b) the object of the attack is any one or more of the following
that are not military objectives:
Australia, Criminal Code Act, 1995, as amended to 2007, Chapter 8, § 268.78, p. 355 and § 268.80, pp. 356–357.
Australia’s ICC (Consequential Amendments) Act (2002) incorporates in the Criminal Code the war crimes defined in the 1998 ICC Statute, including “attacking protected objects … [which] are not military objectives, [including] … hospitals or places where the sick and wounded are collected” in both international and non-international armed conflicts.
Australia, ICC (Consequential Amendments) Act, 2002, Schedule 1, §§ 268.46 and 268.80.