United Nations ST/SGB/1999/13
Secretariat
6 August 1999
Secretary-General's Bulletin
Observance by United Nations forces of international humanitarian
law
The Secretary-General, for the purpose of setting out
fundamental principles and rules of international humanitarian law
applicable to United Nations forces conducting operations under
United Nations command and control, promulgates the following:
Section 1
Field of application
1.1 The fundamental principles and rules of
international humanitarian law set out in the present bulletin are
applicable to United Nations forces when in situations of armed
conflict they are actively engaged therein as combatants, to the
extent and for the duration of their engagement. They are
accordingly applicable in enforcement actions, or in peacekeeping
operations when the use of force is permitted in self-defence.
1.2 The promulgation of this bulletin does not
affect the protected status of members of peacekeeping operations
under the 1994 Convention on the Safety of United Nations and
Associated Personnel or their status as non-combatants, as long as
they are entitled to the protection given to civilians under the
international law of armed conflict.
Section 2
Application of national law
The present provisions do not constitute an exhaustive
list of principles and rules of international humanitarian law
binding upon military personnel, and do not prejudice the
application thereof, nor do they replace the national laws by which
military personnel remain bound throughout the operation.
Section 3
Status-of-forces agreement
In the status-of-forces agreement concluded between the
United Nations and a State in whose territory a United Nations
force is deployed, the United Nations undertakes to ensure that the
force shall conduct its operations with full respect for the
principles and rules of the general conventions applicable to the
conduct of military personnel. The United Nations also undertakes
to ensure that members of the military personnel of the force are
fully acquainted with the principles and rules of those
international instruments. The obligation to respect the said
principles and rules is applicable to United Nations forces even in
the absence of a status-of-forces agreement.
Section 4
Violations of international humanitarian law
In case of violations of international humanitarian law,
members of the military personnel of a United Nations force are
subject to prosecution in their national courts.
Section 5
Protection of the civilian population
5.1 The United Nations force shall make a clear
distinction at all times between civilians and combatants and
between civilian objects and military objectives. Military
operations shall be directed only against combatants and military
objectives. Attacks on civilians or civilian objects are
prohibited.
5.2 Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by
this section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part
in hostilities.
5.3 The United Nations force shall take all feasible
precautions to avoid, and in any event to minimize, incidental loss
of civilian life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian
property.
5.4 In its area of operation, the United Nations
force shall avoid, to the extent feasible, locating military
objectives within or near densely populated areas, and take all
necessary precautions to protect the civilian population,
individual civilians and civilian objects against the dangers
resulting from military operations. Military installations and
equipment of peacekeeping operations, as such, shall not be
considered military objectives.
5.5 The United Nations force is prohibited from
launching operations of a nature likely to strike military
objectives and civilians in an indiscriminate manner, as well as
operations that may be expected to cause incidental loss of life
among the civilian population or damage to civilian objects that
would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military
advantage anticipated.
5.6 The United Nations force shall not engage in
reprisals against civilians or civilian objects.
Section 6
Means and methods of combat
6.1 The right of the United Nations force to choose
methods and means of combat is not unlimited.
6.2 The United Nations force shall respect the rules
prohibiting or restricting the use of certain weapons and methods
of combat under the relevant instruments of international
humanitarian law. These include, in particular, the prohibition on
the use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and biological
methods of warfare; bullets which explode, expand or flatten easily
in the human body; and certain explosive projectiles. The use of
certain conventional weapons, such as non-detectable fragments,
anti-personnel mines, booby traps and incendiary weapons, is
prohibited.
6.3 The United Nations force is prohibited from
employing methods of warfare which may cause superfluous injury or
unnecessary suffering, or which are intended, or may be expected to
cause, widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural
environment.
6.4 The United Nations force is prohibited from
using weapons or methods of combat of a nature to cause unnecessary
suffering.
6.5 It is forbidden to order that there shall be no
survivors.
6.6 The United Nations force is prohibited from
attacking monuments of art, architecture or history, archaeological
sites, works of art, places of worship and museums and libraries
which constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples. In
its area of operation, the United Nations force shall not use such
cultural property or their immediate surroundings for purposes
which might expose them to destruction or damage. Theft, pillage,
misappropriation and any act of vandalism directed against cultural
property is strictly prohibited.
6.7 The United Nations force is prohibited from
attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects
indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as
foodstuff, crops, livestock and drinking-water installations and
supplies.
6.8 The United Nations force shall not make
installations containing dangerous forces, namely dams, dikes and
nuclear electrical generating stations, the object of military
operations if such operations may cause the release of dangerous
forces and consequent severe losses among the civilian population.
6.9 The United Nations force shall not engage in
reprisals against objects and installations protected under this
section.
Section 7
Treatment of civilians and persons hors de combat
7.1 Persons not, or no longer, taking part in
military operations, including civilians, members of armed forces
who have laid down their weapons and persons placed hors de combat
by reason of sickness, wounds or detention, shall, in all
circumstances, be treated humanely and without any adverse
distinction based on race, sex, religious convictions or any other
ground. They shall be accorded full respect for their person,
honour and religious and other convictions.
7.2 The following acts against any of the persons
mentioned in section 7.1 are prohibited at any time and in any
place: violence to life or physical integrity; murder as well as
cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal
punishment; collective punishment; reprisals; the taking of
hostages; rape; enforced prostitution; any form of sexual assault
and humiliation and degrading treatment; enslavement; and pillage.
7.3 Women shall be especially protected against any
attack, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution or any
other form of indecent assault.
7.4 Children shall be the object of special respect
and shall be protected against any form of indecent assault.
Section 8
Treatment of detained persons
The United Nations force shall treat with humanity and
respect for their dignity detained members of the armed forces and
other persons who no longer take part in military operations by
reason of detention. Without prejudice to their legal status, they
shall be treated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the
Third Geneva Convention of 1949, as may be applicable to them
mutatis mutandis. In particular:
(a) Their capture and detention shall be notified
without delay to the party on which they depend and to the Central
Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), in particular in order to inform their families;
(b) They shall be held in secure and safe premises
which provide all possible safeguards of hygiene and health, and
shall not be detained in areas exposed to the dangers of the combat
zone;
(c) They shall be entitled to receive food and
clothing, hygiene and medical attention;
(d) They shall under no circumstances be subjected
to any form of torture or ill-treatment;
(e) Women whose liberty has been restricted shall be
held in quarters separated from men's quarters, and shall be under
the immediate supervision of women;
(f) In cases where children who have not attained
the age of sixteen years take a direct part in hostilities and are
arrested, detained or interned by the United Nations force, they
shall continue to benefit from special protection. In particular,
they shall be held in quarters separate from the quarters of
adults, except when accommodated with their families;
(g) ICRC's right to visit prisoners and detained
persons shall be respected and guaranteed.
Section 9
Protection of the wounded, the sick, and medical and relief
personnel
9.1 Members of the armed forces and other persons in
the power of the United Nations force who are wounded or sick shall
be respected and protected in all circumstances. They shall be
treated humanely and receive the medical care and attention
required by their condition, without adverse distinction. Only
urgent medical reasons will authorize priority in the order of
treatment to be administered.
9.2 Whenever circumstances permit, a suspension of
fire shall be arranged, or other local arrangements made, to permit
the search for and identification of the wounded, the sick and the
dead left on the battlefield and allow for their collection,
removal, exchange and transport.
9.3 The United Nations force shall not attack
medical establishments or mobile medical units. These shall at all
times be respected and protected, unless they are used, outside
their humanitarian functions, to attack or otherwise commit harmful
acts against the United Nations force.
9.4 The United Nations force shall in all
circumstances respect and protect medical personnel exclusively
engaged in the search for, transport or treatment of the wounded or
sick, as well as religious personnel.
9.5 The United Nations force shall respect and
protect transports of wounded and sick or medical equipment in the
same way as mobile medical units.
9.6 The United Nations force shall not engage in
reprisals against the wounded, the sick or the personnel,
establishments and equipment protected under this section.
9.7 The United Nations force shall in all
circumstances respect the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems. These
emblems may not be employed except to indicate or to protect
medical units and medical establishments, personnel and material.
Any misuse of the Red Cross or Red Crescent emblems is prohibited.
9.8 The United Nations force shall respect the right
of the families to know about the fate of their sick, wounded and
deceased relatives. To this end, the force shall facilitate the
work of the ICRC Central Tracing Agency.
9.9 The United Nations force shall facilitate the
work of relief operations which are humanitarian and impartial in
character and conducted without any adverse distinction, and shall
respect personnel, vehicles and premises involved in such
operations.
Section 10
Entry into force
The present bulletin shall enter into force on 12 August
1999.
(Signed) Kofi A. Annan
Secretary-General
See Roy Gutman's essay on the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions
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