Source: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/chi/docs/v2_cou_au_rule106
Timestamp: 2020-04-08 16:32:49
Document Index: 233647842

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 512', '§ 5', '§ 513', '§ 5', '§ 7', '§ 2']

Australia’s Defence Force Manual (1994) provides that combatants must “have a fixed distinctive sign recognisable at a distance and carry arms openly … Combatants are normally expected to distinguish themselves from the civilian population by wearing a uniform.”
Australia, Manual on Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Force Publication, Operations Series, ADFP 37 – Interim Edition, 1994, §§ 512–513.
5.12 … Where [combatants] are not members of the armed forces, they must also have a fixed distinctive sign recognisable at a distance and carry arms openly.
5.13 … A member of the armed forces does not lose combatant status merely by operating covertly or as a guerrilla. That is, while combatants are normally expected to distinguish themselves from the civilian population by wearing a uniform, the LOAC recognises that they do not have to wear a uniform on operations to retain their status as combatants. This is conditional on combatants who cannot so distinguish themselves because of the nature of hostilities, openly carrying arms during:
• each military engagement, and
• at such times as they are visible to the adversary while engaged in a military deployment preceding the launching of an attack in which they are to participate.
Australia, The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Doctrine Publication 06.4, Australian Defence Headquarters, 11 May 2006, §§ 5.12–5.13.
A member of the armed forces does not lose combatant status merely by operating covertly or as a guerilla. That is, while combatants are normally expected to distinguish themselves from the civilian population by wearing a uniform, LOAC recognizes that they do not have to wear a uniform on operations to retain their status as combatants. This is conditional on combatants who cannot so distinguish themselves because of the nature of hostilities, openly by carrying arms during:
a. each military engagement, and
(1) such times as they are visible to the adversary while engaged in a military deployment preceding the launching of an attack in which they are to participate.
Australia, Manual on Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Force Publication, Operations Series, ADFP 37 – Interim Edition, 1994, § 513.
Australia’s LOAC Manual (2006) states in its chapter on “Targeting”:
A member of the armed forces does not lose combatant status merely by operating covertly or as a guerrilla. That is, while combatants are normally expected to distinguish themselves from the civilian population by wearing a uniform, the LOAC recognises that they do not have to wear a uniform on operations to retain their status as combatants. This is conditional on combatants who cannot so distinguish themselves because of the nature of hostilities, openly carrying arms during:
Australia, The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Doctrine Publication 06.4, Australian Defence Headquarters, 11 May 2006, § 5.13.
• national liberation movements engaged in a conflict seeking self-determination;
• resistance or properly organised guerrilla movements;
Australia, The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, Australian Defence Doctrine Publication 06.4, Australian Defence Headquarters, 11 May 2006, § 7.21.
It is the understanding of Australia that in relation to Article 44, the situation described in the second sentence of paragraph 3 can exist only in occupied territory or in armed conflicts covered by paragraph 4 of Article 1. Australia will interpret the word “deployment” in paragraph 3(b) as meaning any movement towards a place from which an attack is to be launched. It will interpret the words “visible to the adversary” in the same paragraph as including visible with the aid of binoculars, or by infra-red or image intensification devices.
Australia, Declarations made upon ratification of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, 21 June 1991, § 2.