Practice Relating to Rule 54. Attacks against Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Civilian Population
Section C. Attacks in case of military necessity
Sweden’s IHL Manual (1991) states:
Another question addressed in Article 54 [of the 1977 Additional Protocol I] is the possibility for one party faced with an approaching hostile attack to resort to widespread destruction within a given area – the method usually termed “burnt earth tactics”. Such steps are permitted under 54:5 where they are required by overriding military necessity and concern only one party’s national territory
. However, this latter addition implies important limitations. Thus it is not allowed to attack, for example by aerial bombardment, an area occupied by the adversary if the purpose is to impede the civilian population’s supply of indispensable necessities.
[emphasis in original]
At the CDDH, Sweden remarked, with reference to the possible exceptions to the prohibition of attacks against objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, that it considered a scorched earth policy used to stop an enemy invasion on a party’s own territory to be permissible. The Swedish delegate described this strategy as “a deep-rooted practice which should be taken into account”.