Source: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/ara/docs/v2_cou_nz_rule8
Timestamp: 2020-05-31 11:25:25
Document Index: 361115257

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 516', '§ 623', '§ 516', '§ 623', '§ 516', '§ 623', '§ 516', '§ 623', '§ 516', '§ 623', '§ 802']

The military advantage at the time of attack is that advantage from the military campaign or operation of which the attack is a part considered as a whole and not only from isolated or particular parts of that campaign or operation. Military advantage involves a variety of considerations including the security of the attacking forces.
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 516(1); see also § 623(1).
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states that combatants are military objectives.
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states: “Military bases, warehouses … buildings and objects that provide administrative and logistic support for military operations are examples of objects universally regarded as military objectives.”
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 516(2); see also § 623(2).
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states: “Military aircraft, weapons [and] ammunition are examples of objects universally regarded as military objectives.”
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states that “command and control points are examples of objects universally regarded as military objectives”.
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states that “[military] transport, ports [and] airfields are examples of objects universally regarded as military objectives”.
The manual further considers that “transportation systems for military supplies, transportation centres where lines of communication converge, railyards … may be attacked if they meet the criteria for military objectives”.
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 516(4); see also § 623(4).
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states that “energy installations [and] war supporting industries are examples of objects universally regarded as military objectives”.
Industrial installations producing materiel for combat forces, fuel dumps and distribution centres supplying military users, and industrial installations that repair and replenish lines of communication (such as conventional power plants and vehicle plants), and other economic targets may be attacked if they meet the criteria for military objectives.
In general, the manual considers that:
Economic targets that indirectly but effectively support enemy operations may also be attacked to gain a definite military advantage. For example, an 1870 international arbitral tribunal recognized that the destruction of cotton was justified during the American Civil War since the sale of cotton provided funds for almost all Confederate arms and ammunition. Authorization to attack such targets will be reserved to higher authority.
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 516(5); see also § 623(5).
An area of land may be a military objective, provided that the particular area offers a definite military advantage to the defending forces or those attacking. This would include a tract of land through which the adverse Party would be likely to move its forces, or an area the occupation of which would provide the occupant with the possibility of mounting a further attack.
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 516(6); see also § 623(6).
In relation to Article 52, it is the understanding of the Government of New Zealand that a specific area of land may be a military objective if, because of its location or other reasons specified in the Article, its total or partial destruction, capture or neutralisation in the circumstances ruling at the time offers a definite military advantage.
New Zealand’s Military Manual (1992) states: “Civilians employed in industries or other activities connected with the war effort may lose while on the job some or all of their protection as civilians but they do not, as a result, become combatants.”
New Zealand, Interim Law of Armed Conflict Manual, DM 112, New Zealand Defence Force, Headquarters, Directorate of Legal Services, Wellington, November 1992, § 802(2).