Schedule 1—Amendment of the Criminal Code Act 1995

Chapter 8—Offences against humanity and related offences

Division 268—Genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes against the administration of the justice of the International Criminal Court

Subdivision G—War crimes that are other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in an armed conflict that is not an international armed conflict


268.94 War crime—destroying or seizing an adversary’s property

(1) A person (the perpetrator) commits an offence if:

(a) the perpetrator destroys or seizes certain property; and
(b) the property is property of an adversary; and
(c) the property is protected from the destruction or seizure under article 14 of Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions; and
(d) the perpetrator knows of, or is reckless as to, the factual circumstances that establish that the property is so protected; and
(e) the destruction or seizure is not justified by military necessity; and
(f) the perpetrator’s conduct takes place in the context of, and is associated with, an armed conflict that is not an international armed conflict.

Penalty: Imprisonment for 15 years

(2) Strict liability applies to paragraph (1)(c).

Article 8
War crimes
2. For the purpose of this Statute, "war crimes" means:
(e) Other serious violations of the laws and customs applicable in armed conflicts not of
an international character, within the established framework of international law, namely, any of
the following acts:
(xii) Destroying or seizing the property of an adversary unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of the conflict.