NO LONGER FOES BUT FRIENDS: HORS DE COMBAT IN HUMANITARIAN LAW

Abstract

As a matter of general rule, combatants are lawful targets of military operations because of the combat function they undertake. This principle is not however absolute as the intendment of Humanitarian Law is not that wars should be fought in perpetuity but that there should be an end to wars. As such, where enemy combatants have been placed hors de combat, they cease to be legitimate targets of military operations and become the subject of protection. This is predicated on the fact that they no longer constitute military threat to the adverse Party. The Article seeks to demonstrate, through doctrinal method of legal research, that enemies hors de combat are no longer foes but ‘friends’. The Article contended that since the purpose of International Humanitarian Law is to strike a balance between military necessity and concern for humanity, it serves no military purpose targeting persons who have been placed hors de combat and in fact defeats its very purpose. The Article nevertheless observed that more often than not, enemies hors de combat are rather considered as enemies in perpetuity. To obliterate this difficulty, the Article recommended among other things the constant dissemination of the rules of International Humanitarian Law particularly among armed forces, with a view to increasing their respect for Humanitarian Law.