Hors de combat

Hors de combat (French: [ɔʁ də kɔ̃ba]; lit. 'out of combat') is a French term used in the laws of war to refer to persons who are incapable of performing their combat duties during war. Examples include persons parachuting from their disabled aircraft, shipwreck survivors, as well as the sick, wounded, detained, or otherwise disabled. Intentional hostility from assumed persons removes any legal protection on their part.

Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, enemy combatants hors de combat are non-combatants and automatically granted the status of protected persons. Lawful combatants hors de combat receive prisoner of war (POW) status and cannot be prosecuted for simply partaking in hostilities. Unlawful combatants hors de combat do not receive the same privilege and are subject to trial and punishment (which may include capital punishment if the detaining power has such a punishment for the crimes they have committed).

Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions defines a person as hors de combat if:^[1]

(a) he is in the power of an adverse Party;

(b) he clearly expresses an intention to surrender; or

(c) he has been rendered unconscious or is otherwise incapacitated by wounds or sickness, and therefore is incapable of defending himself;

provided that in any of these cases he abstains from any hostile act and does not attempt to escape.

References

1. "Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977, Part III : Methods and means of warfare – Combatant and prisoner-of-war status #Section I – Methods and means of warfare, Article 41 – Safeguard of an enemy hors de combat, Paragraph 2". International Humanitarian Law. International Committee of the Red Cross. Retrieved November 23, 2009.