Practice Relating to Rule 40. Respect for Cultural Property
Côte d’Ivoire’s Teaching Manual (2007) provides in Book III, Volume 1 (Instruction of first-year trainee officers):
IV.2.1. Obligations in the planning of defensive actions
… [P]ersons participating in the preparation or conduct of defensive operations must take into account the following demands defined by the law of armed conflict.
Furthermore, these objects [cultural property] must neither be destroyed, nor damaged simply to hinder their use by civilians or to remove the civilian population. The destruction of objects must always be justified by military necessity; these objects must constitute a military objective. For the defender, destruction is only justified in order to establish measures fortifying the terrain, in the absence of any other reasonable option.
In Book III, Volume 2 (Instruction of second-year trainee officers), the Teaching Manual provides:
I.3. War crimes
War crimes are equally violations of the laws and customs of war such as:
- seizure of, destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to religion, charity and education, the arts and sciences, historic monuments and works of art and science.