What do ADF Legal Officers do?

Australian Army
Law on Operations
Presenter:
CAPT Robyn Marmara
SO3 Legal HQ 3 Brigade
What do ADF Legal Officers do?

Primary role - provide advice to ADF commanders

Our three areas of speciality are:

Administrative Law

Discipline Law

Defence Force Discipline Act 1982
 Military Operations Law

Main sources of Operations Law

Laws of Armed Conflict (LOAC) is the international law regulating
the conduct of parties engaged in armed hostilities.

Also known as ‘Law of War’ or ‘International Humanitarian Law’.

The most important sources of international law today are:
 Customary international law
 Treaties

Incorporated into domestic law
in Australia.

Criminal Code 1995 (Cth)
A Selection of LOAC Sources

Geneva Conventions
 Four conventions
 Three Additional Protocols

Hague Law
 Cultural Property
 Biological Weapons
 Conventional Weapons
 Ottawa Treaty

Rome Statute of International Criminal Court

Who does LOAC protect?










Lawful combatants
Civilians and civilian objects
Wounded, sick & shipwrecked
Surrendering enemy
Medical Personnel
Religious Personnel
Civil Defence Workers
Journalists
Survivors parachuting from plane
Prisoner of War
What does LOAC protect?






Historical/Cultural buildings
Objects indispensable to the civilian population
Installations containing dangerous forces
Medical buildings
Civil Defence building
Civilian homes

LOAC Principles

Distinction



Military Necessity



Action must be linked to achieving military objective
Limits the level of force that can be used
Unnecessary Suffering


Combatants from civilian population
Military Objects and civilian objects
Forbids action which causes unnecessary suffering, injury or destruction
Proportionality

Does the military advantage to be gained outweight the risk posed to
protected persons and objects?
Rules of Engagement

Rules of Engagement
Targeting

Internment and Detention

Prisoners of war
and Detainees

Protected under LOAC
Abu Ghraib – Iraq 2004

Questions?
If any students are interested in obtaining more information about the
entry requirements for a Legal Officer or the undergraduate schemes,
go to http://www.defencejobs.gov.au/


Download Report