Civil Defence in International Humanitarian Law

How are military civil defence
personnel protected?
Members of the armed forces and
military units assigned to civil defence
organizations must be respected and
protected (Art. 67) provided that:


they are permanently and
exclusively assigned to the
performance of one or more of
the above-listed "humanitarian
tasks";

 
they carry out those tasks only on
the territory of their State;


they do not perform military
duties during the conflict;


they make themselves clearly
distinguishable from the other
members of the armed forces by
c o n s t a n t l y d i s p l a y i n g t h e
international distinctive sign of
civil defence;

 
they are equipped only with light
individual weapons for the
purpose of maintaining order or
for self-defence;

 
they do not take direct part in the
hostilities and do not commit, or
are not used to commit, acts
harmful to the enemy.
Failure to observe the last of the
conditions listed above results not
only in the loss of protection but
constitutes a breach of Protocol I,
which the Parties to the conflict are
obliged to suppress (Art. 85, para. 1)
and which may give rise to
disciplinary or penal punishment.
In the event of capture, a member of
the military assigned to perform civil
defence tasks becomes a prisoner of
war and the provisions of the Third
Geneva Convention relating to the
treatment of the prisoners of war are
applicable to him.
Military buildings and matériel
a s s i g n e d t o c i v i l d e f e n c e
organizations must be clearly marked
with the international distinctive sign
of civil defence. Objects assigned
exclusively and permanently to the
performance of civil defence tasks
which fall under the power of the
enemy are subject to the law of war.
However, they may not be diverted
from their proper use as long as they
are needed for that purpose.
Identification
The international distinctive sign of
civil defence set out in Protocol I
consists of an equilateral blue triangle
on an orange background (Art. 66 and
Annex I, Chapter V).
This sign may be used only to identify
civil defence organizations and their
personnel, buildings and matériel
used exclusively for humanitarian
tasks or for shelters provided for the
civilian population. The parties to a
conflict may also agree among
themselves regarding the use of
distinctive signals (lights and sirens)
for the identification of civil defence
services.
With the consent of the State, the
international distinctive sign of civil
defence may also be used to identify
those services in peacetime.