Hors de combat is a French term used in public international law to describe a combatant who is out of the fight and therefore must not be made the object of attack. A person is hors de combat where they are defenceless due to unconsciousness, wounds, sickness, capture, or surrender, and no longer take part in hostilities.The concept is reflected, though not always under that exact phrase, in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, which are incorporated into the domestic law of the UK and Ireland. It is central to the law of armed conflict rules on the protection of prisoners of war, the wounded and shipwrecked, and civilians taking no active part in hostilities.In practice, the status of being hors de combat is highly relevant to determining war crimes, rules of engagement, targeting decisions and individual criminal responsibility of commanders and soldiers. Usage and legal effect are broadly consistent across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, which all look to the same international humanitarian law framework and related case law of international criminal tribunals.