CYIL vol. 11 (2020)

DALIBOR JÍLEK CYIL 11 (2020) possible ) gives the combatants an exception from protection if there are circumstances of the necessity of war. Consequently, this provision underwent amendments. Under Article 17 of the Declaration, 29 the duty was not addressed to the officer in command of an attacking force, although he remained responsible for taking all necessary measures. The catalogue of protected immovable objects was expanded to embody hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected, which enjoyed the advantage of neutrality. Protection was enlarged at the request of the Ottoman delegation too. As regards buildings dedicated to worship, its representative referred, for instance, to non-Christian buildings, including mosques and other Muslim facilities (madrasas), as well as synagogues. The protection of those buildings could only be ensured in so far as the edifice was not used for military purposes. The duty was originally imposed exclusively on the besieging army and not the besieged. The second paragraph balances the duties between the former and the latter. Both adversaries are bound by duties of distinct types. The duty of the besieging forces lies in taking all necessary measures to spare, as far as possible, the protected edifices, hospitals, and places where the sick and wounded are collected. Such positive actions must be done before the opening of bombardments. The duty necessitates an active approach from the very beginning of planning operations. Of course, the besieging forces are continually subjected to the duty to spare these edifices. That means that their conduct during military operations against the besieged has to lie in omissions. Contrastingly, the duty of the besieged requires achieving a normative result. The defenders are obligated to indicate the presence of protected buildings by distinctive and visible signs. This legal fact must be communicated to the adversary beforehand. As apparent from the normative sentence, the duties imposed on both belligerents are interrelated and interdependent. Moreover, they are characterized by normative complementarity. Both duties are dictated by considerations of humanity. The Brussels Declaration pursued the goal of encouraging the progressive development of international rules applied in wars. On the contrary, the Oxford Manual on the Laws of War on Land, 30 prepared by the Institute of International Law in 1880, was designed primarily to serve national law. 31 In that regard, the Institute did not aim to replace the efforts of the codification conferences, nor did it intend to develop ius in bello . In particular, the Institute thought closely about invigorating the enactment of rules and preparation of internal military instructions or orders. The Manual rests on the juristic thesis of different treatment of public and private property during the war. It rejected the previous customary practice, when adversaries seized enemy public (state) and private property if they needed it for military purposes. The Manual 29 Article 17 of the Brussels Declaration states in French: “En pareil cas, toutes les mesures nécessaires doivent être prises pour épargner, autant qu’il est possible, les édifices consacrés aux cultes, aux arts, aux sciences et à la bienfaisance, les hôpitaux et les lieux de rassemblement de malades et de blessés, à condition qu’ils ne soient pas employés en même temps à un but militaire. Le devoir des assiégés est de désigner ces édifices par des signes visibles spéciaux à indiquer d’avance à l’assiégeant.” 30 SCHINDLER, D. and TOMAN, J. (eds.), op. cit. 1, pp. 36-48. 31 Annuaires de l’Institut de Droit International, session d’Oxford, 1880-1881, Bruxelles: Librairie C. Muquardt, 1882, Tome 5, p. 158, Manuel des lois de la guerre sur terre, rapporteur M. Gustave Moynier : “On n’y trouvera pas, au surplus, de téméraires hardiesses. L’Institut, en le rédigeant, n’a pas cherché à innover; il s’est borné à préciser, dans la mesure de ce qui lui a paru admissible et pratique, les idées reçues de notre temps et à les codifier.”

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