To minimize Iraqi and Coalition casualties, however, the Coalition engaged in a major psychological operations campaign to encourage Iraqi soldiers to surrender before the Coalition ground offensive. The issue is one of reasonableness.Ī combatant force involved in an armed conflict is not obligated to offer its opponent an opportunity to surrender before carrying out an attack. The latter may not refuse an offer of surrender when communicated, but that communication must be made at a time when it can be received and properly acted upon – an attempt at surrender in the midst of a hard-fought battle is neither easily communicated nor received. Surrender involves an offer by the surrendering party (a unit or an individual soldier) and an ability to accept on the part of his opponent. However, there is a gap in the law of war in defining precisely when surrender takes effect or how it may be accomplished in practical terms.
Article 23(d) of Hague IV prohibits the denial of quarter, that is the refusal to accept an enemy’s surrender, while other provisions in that treaty address the use of flags of truce and capitulation. The law of war obligates a party to a conflict to accept the surrender of enemy personnel and thereafter treat them in accordance with the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims. 641-44.Īvailable on ] THE CONCEPT OF “SURRENDER” IN [ Source: “United States: Defense Department Report to Congress on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War – Appendix O on the Role of the Law of War” (April 10, 1992) in ILM, vol.
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