Hors de combat

Hors de combat (French: [ɔʁ də kɔ̃ba]; lit. 'out of combat') is a French term used in the laws of war to refer to persons who are incapable of performing their combat duties during war, thus generally not treated as active combatants but rather protected persons. Examples include persons parachuting from their disabled aircraft, shipwreck survivors, as well as the sick, wounded, detained, or otherwise disabled. Intentional hostility from assumed hors de combat persons removes any legal protection on their part and renders them as active combatants once again.

Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, enemy combatants hors de combat are non-combatants and automatically granted the status of protected persons. Lawful combatants hors de combat receive prisoner of war (POW) status and cannot be prosecuted for simply partaking in hostilities. Unlawful combatants hors de combat do not receive the same privilege and are subject to trial and punishment (which may include capital punishment if the detaining power has such a punishment for the crimes they have committed).

Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions defines a person as hors de combat if:^[1]

(a) he is in the power of an adverse Party;

(b) he clearly expresses an intention to surrender; or

(c) he has been rendered unconscious or is otherwise incapacitated by wounds or sickness, and therefore is incapable of defending himself;

provided that in any of these cases he abstains from any hostile act and does not attempt to escape.