The circumstances of each will determine whether it legally and factually meets the qualifying conditions as an armed conflict (international or non-international). In addition, these same national forces also failed to prevent, halt, suppress and punish combatants who committed genocide and crimes against humanity against these non-combatant civilians (see blogs #18 Caveats Endanger & Caveats Kill: National Caveats in UN Operations in Angola, Rwanda & Bosnia-Herzegovina, #20 Betrayal & Barbarism in Bosnia: The UNPROFOR Operation, National Caveats & Genocide in the Srebrenica UN Protected Area, #21 Srebrenica Aftermath: Serb Guilt & Dutch Liability for the Genocide in the UNPROFOR Safe Area in Bosnia,and#22 Recommended Viewing: The UN, National Caveats & Human Carnage in Rwanda). Common Article 3 the article common to all four of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 which alone treats Non-International armed conflict requires that, in addition to humane treatment for all military personnel hors de combat or taken Prisoner of War in International armed conflicts, all persons not taking an active part in hostilities within a Non-International armed conflict be likewise treated humanely in all circumstances, regardless of race, colour, religion, sex, birth, wealth or any other similar criteria. According to Pejic, despite the U.S. Supreme Courts ruling of applying Common Article 3 (NIAC law) and Article 75 (IAC law) to detainees of the GWOT (both articles being fundamental principles of CIL), the reality is that: The two articles do notprovide any guidance on many substantive and procedural legal issues, nor on how to resolve practical questions, that arise in relation to captured unlawful combatants.[36]. The rules help draw a lineas much as is possible within the context of wars and armed conflictsbetween the humane treatment of armed forces, medical staff and civilians and unrestrained brutality against them. 4 of 8) It does not justify prohibited actions (correct) It justifies the use of overwhelming force, but not wanton destruction (correct) Humanity is a principle of the Law of War that addresses the immunity of peaceful populations and civilian objects from attack. States comply with the practice out of a sense of legal obligation to an international norm or custom, rather than solely due to their own legal LOAC obligations or national interests.[16]. Your email address will not be published. (2) The laws of war do not apply; the US military has a free hand. receive humane treatment, to have contact with humanitarian organizations, and . But. This language was added in 1949 to accommodate situations that have all the characteristics of war without the existence of a formal declaration of war, such as a. History and Legal Status of Prisoners of War - National Park Service 81-82 in Geneva Convention III, and pp. My most solemn responsibility as president was to protect the country. The signing Nations agreed to further restrictions on the treatment of "protected persons" according to the original Conventions, and clarification of the terms used in the Conventions was introduced. [9], In order to be a Non-International armed conflict, either: (1) a minimum level of intensity in the hostilities must be reached, e.g. The question of how to treat, detain and put on trial these dangerous unlawful combatants, for the war crimes that they are continuing to commit in warzones against both non-combatant civilians and lawful combatant national military and police forces in the territories of sovereign States around the world, is consequently presenting a difficult legal and political challenge to the international community at present time, and will continue to do so for some time to come especially as both the threat and commission of these terrorist acts of brutal, savage and indiscriminate mass-murder increase. About a third of those were questioned using enhanced techniques. To see a table listing the States that have ratified the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and its two 1977 Additional Protocols, click on the following link: Dr Regeena Kingsley PDF List of Ratifying States to Geneva Conventions & Additional Protocols (2019) v3 Compressed. Department of Defense Briefing on Humane Treatment of Iraqi and U.S Other emblems were later recognized, and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the main topic of this article, confirmed them all. Where domestic law does not allow for the exercise of universal jurisdiction, a Statemust introduce the necessary domestic legislative provisions before it can do so, and must actually exercise the jurisdiction, unless it hands the suspect over to another country or international tribunal. Young, How May Operation Iraqi Freedom [OIF] Campaigns Were There?, HIRE G.I., 14 July 2018, https://hiregi.com/2018/07/14/how-many-operation-iraqi-freedom-oif-campaigns-were-there/, (accessed 1 May 2019). But he didnt just write about what hed observed, he also proposed a solution: All nations come together to create trained, volunteer relief groups to treat battlefield wounded and offer humanitarian assistance to those affected by war. In Rwanda in 1994 and Bosnia in 1995, UNAMIR and UNPROFOR national contingent forces failed in their preeminent mandated duty to act in a robust military fashion to protect the lives of thousands of non-combatant civilians, sheltering in UN safe areas under their command, from the hostile intent and hostile lethal force actions of Enemy forces towards the local civilian population. Based on what I read and my knowledge of Saddams behavior in the 1980s and early 1990s it seemed highly likely to me that he had resumed working on weapons of mass destruction, that the sanctions were largely ineffective, and that the man was a very dangerous megalomaniac. To better illustrate this point, the following comprises a list of the known various terrorist plots and attacks that were prevented or stopped by the U.S. as a result of the CIAs enhanced interrogation programme during the early 2000s (among many other terrorist plots that remain classified and are therefore unknown to the general public): (1) the 2002 U.S. West Coast Airliner Plot; (6) the 2004 United Kingdom (UK) Urban Targets Plot; Furthermore, according to the U.S. Department of Defense, as a direct result of the enhanced interrogation program the CIA was also able to successfully: (Bush, Decision Points, ibid., p. 171; United States Department of Defense (U.S. DoD), Summary of the High Value Terrorist Detainee Program, Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Washington DC 20511, Military Commission Proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, 2008, http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/, (accessed 12 September 2008); U.S. DoD, JTF-GTMO Information on Detainees, Military Commission Proceedings at Guantanamo Bay, 4 March 2005, http://www.defenselink.mil/home/features/Detainee_Affairs/, (accessed 12 September 2008)). . It also identified new protections and rights of civilian populations. It also grantsthe right to proper medical treatment and care. The CIA interrogation program saved lives. Writings of highly-qualified legal experts. This variation in interpretation is especially apparent with respect to, or in contrast to, practices of lawful interrogation in response to national security threats or during national security emergencies where the State is seeking to fulfil its primary responsibility and duty to protect the lives of its citizens. The truth is that modern conflict has become so extremely complex, intractable and mixed in current times, displaying simultaneously features of both International and Non-International armed conflict especially in modern anti-terrorism campaigns waged against Islamist terrorist groups and terror-using insurgencies in the Middle East, Central Asia, Africa and Asia that it has created grey zones with regard to the appropriate LOAC that leave room for diverse legal interpretation between nations and new evolutions in customs of CIL. (1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race, colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, [30] For more information on the CIAs waterboarding program, the three senior Al Qaeda members that were waterboarded, the actionable intelligence revealed by them, and a few of the terrorist plots stopped worldwide as a result of the enhanced interrogation techniques, see George W. Bush, Decision Points, New York, Crown Publishers, 2010, pp. [8], Internal security emergencies within a State, i.e. No doubt the procedure was tough, but medical experts assured the CIA that it did no lasting harm. A punitive war took place firstly in Afghanistan in 2001 against the Taliban regime hosting and shielding Osama Bin Laden, the leader of the Al Qaeda terrorist network. The intensive inspections program instituted after the [Gulf] war uncovered evidence that the Iraqis had, in fact, been considerably further along in developing nuclear weapons than U.S. intelligence had estimated before the warAs long as the inspections effort continued and the sanctions were strictly enforced, his opportunities to resume the programs for weapons of mass destruction would be very limited. Humane treatment | How does law protect in war? - Online casebook States comply with the practice out of a sense of legal obligation to an international norm or custom, rather than solely due to their own legal LOAC obligations or national interests. In this Protocol, the fundamentals of "humane treatment" were further clarified. [36] Pejic, Unlawful/Enemy Combatants: Interpretations and consequences, op. While it is true that the criminal behaviour of terrorist unlawful combatants, The two articles do notprovide any guidance on many substantive and procedural legal issues, nor on how to resolve practical questions, that arise in relation to captured unlawful combatants., Indeed, Pejic asserts that the GWOT is neither IAC nor NIAC in nature, arguing that it may in some situations be an international armed conflict, in other instances a non-international armed conflict, and in still other cases not an armed conflict in the legal sense at all., Every situation of organized armed violence arising from or in response to terrorism must be examined on a case-by-case basis. Subsequently a preventative pre-emptive war took place in Iraq against Saddam Husseins dictatorship during 2003, which: firstly, had been meeting with senior Al Qaeda leaders; secondly, was cooperating with and housing Al Qaeda members at a chemical and biological weapons-testing laboratory situated at an Iraqi base near the Iranian border (including the notorious Al Qaeda attack-planner, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi); and thirdly, was strongly suspected internationally of having stockpiles of illegal biological and chemical Weapons of Mass destruction (WMD),in addition to nuclear material from its nuclear development programme, that, given the regimes long and proven record of support for terrorism, it was feared Saddam might easily give or sell to Al Qaeda terrorists to enhance and further their attacks in America and around the world (see endnote).[27]. In particular, heated controversy surrounds knowledgeable terrorists or terror-using insurgents captured operating in warzones, who are by definition not only unlawful combatants under the laws of war but also war criminals guilty of committing indiscriminate acts of terror and mass-murder, and who possess extensive knowledge of terrorist members, organisation, and plots for future attacks that if obtained might save the lives of countless other human beings, including many innocent civilians. Genocide in Rwanda: In April 1994, 2,000 Tutsi civilians seeking refuge at a UN school compound in Kigali, that was guarded by a unit of armed Belgian UNAMIR forces, were ultimately abandoned by these UN protectors and then butchered by hostile and genocidal Hutu militia armed with machetes, who had for days been watching and waiting outside the school gates.[2]. Our conclusion was that they wereGiven all of this information, and given that the CIA had made a judgement call based on this information, President Bush, in my opinion, would have been negligent not to act (DeLong, A General Speaks Out, ibid., pp.66, 69). During the course of this three-day rampage, the vast majority of KFOR military forces stood aside and took very little action to protect the lives of targeted civilian locals from the rioters, nor to prevent entire villages and city apartment blocks of homes from being set on fire, nor to safeguard significant objects of Serbian cultural heritage and worship from destruction including ancient churches and even cemeteries from perverse desecration and destruction during the riots. Specifically, it prohibits attacks on civilian hospitals, medical transports, etc. PDF International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law Relevant to Siege 37,770,554 questions answered * weegy CIL refers to practices in warfare that are so consistently upheld and adhered to by a majority of States on the world stage that they have become generally regarded as law. Common Article 3 requires the humane treatment of all persons taking no active part in the hostilities - this includes persons who have laid down their arms, or are hors de combat (i.e. Among those contingents theoretically permitted by their governments and Rules of Engagement (ROE) to actually conduct these riot control operations, moreover, a substantial number of these national contingents were ill-trained, ill-equipped and ill-prepared to actually conduct riot control in actuality. Under this body of International Humanitarian Law for the conduct of war, known as the LOAC, all laws and conventions on armed conflict that have been ratified by a State are binding on that States armed forces and applies in all military situations, whether or not war has been formally declared or recognised.[13]. international treaties, conventions, pacts, agreements and protocols), according to the LOAC, certain obligations and rights apply universally, to all States, and all individuals, at all times due to the binding obligations that exist under Customary International Law (CIL). 80-81). (1) Wounded and sick military personnel on land (Geneva Convention I). Law of war - Limits on the methods and means of war Two of the hijacked planes were each deliberately flown into the tall Twin Towers buildings of the World Trade Center business complex located in New York city, the third plane into the U.S. Department of Defense Pentagon building in Washington D.C., and the fourth plane targeting either the Presidential White House or the parliamentary Capitol building also in Washington D.C. crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after an uprising of its passengers against the Islamist terrorist hijackers. [2] Modified image taken from P. Gourevitch, After the Genocide, The New Yorker [Magazine], 18 December 1995, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1995/12/18/after-the-genocide, (accessed 14 September 2017). Protocol I increased protections for civilians, military workers and journalists during international armed conflicts. cit. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. I had asked the most senior legal officers in the U.S. government to review the interrogation methods, and they had assured me they did not constitute torture. [3] Modified images taken from Kosovo As it really is 1999-2003, Post-War Suffering Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren, 2019, http://www.kosovo.net/report.html, (accessed 17 January 2019); March Pogrom Kosovo 17-19 March 2004, News from Kosovo Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Raska and Prizren, http://www.kosovo.net/news_pogrom.html, (17 January 2019); Rupert Colville, Kosovo minorities still need international protection, says UNHCR, UNHCR The UN Refugee Agency UK, 24 August 2004, https://www.unhcr.org/news/latest/2004/8/412b5f904/kosovo-minorities-still-need-international-protection-says-unhcr.html, (accessed 17 January 2019); and Burning of the Serbian village Svinjare, March 17, Kosovo.net, 2019, http://www.kosovo.net/pogrom_march/svinjare1/page_01.htm, (accessed 17 January 2019). 13,; GPW, Art. Hamdiarguedthat such detentionwas illegal under the Geneva Conventions, withoutexpress Congressional consent. [6], International armed conflict is thus defined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions as a conflict occurring between two or more States and to all cases in which partial or total occupation of a States sovereign territory occurs. However, CIL also asserts simultaneously that persons held in custody who are either unable or unlikely to take part in hostilities upon their release from custody by reason of illness, or gravely diminished mental or physical health should be released and directly repatriated as soon as possible (ICRC Customary IHL Rule 99, in NZDF LOAC Manual Chapter 15, ibid., pp. [23] However, because CIL is based on historical experience and general international consensus with regard to legal obligations, norms and practices during armed conflict, it is continually changing as modern conflict evolves, meaning that the CIL legal obligations of States may change without any formal notification at all. [10] Non-international armed conflict, ICRC Casebook How does Law protect in War?, 2019, https://casebook.icrc.org/glossary/non-international-armed-conflict, (accessed 23 April 2019). Afghanistan and Iraq: Two conflict theatres in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT). Geneva Convention of 27 July 1929 relative to the treatment of prisoners of war. In fact, it is the duty of any serviceman or servicewoman to disobey superior orders, if those orders are manifestly unlawful under LOAC (i.e. All service men and women on military operations worldwide have a personal duty and obligation to act lawfully by obeying the LOAC during their service in the military, no-matter the military situation in peace or in war, and no-matter the location of deployment at home or abroad. Terrorism and The International Law of War Had we captured more al Qaeda operatives with significant intelligence value, I would have used the program for them as well (Bush, Decision Points, ibid., pp. Indeed, according to the Administration, even the enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding were lawful under both the Constitution and U.S. law, did not constitute torture, and were not in themselves inhumane. Prior to 2006, the full list of some 17 enhanced interrogation techniques (lawful sanctions) to be used on the terrorist detainees at Guantanamo only in situations of military necessity had been studied under the light of the U.S. Constitution and American LOAC obligations, and then approved and legally authorized by the U.S. Congress, meaning that the interrogation procedures were in fact being used lawfully by interrogators at Guantanamo. The negligence exhibited by many of these national military contingents during these international security campaigns, in neither acting to protect the lives of non-combatant civilians targeted by hostile combatant forces, nor acting in defence of civilian property and places of worship and cultural heritage targeted for destruction by hostile combatant forces, in fact constitute failures to uphold and enforce the very laws of war now known collectively as the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC). Israel/Palestine, Operation Protective Edge (Gaza, 13 June - 26 August 2014), Libya, Report of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2014/15). Consequently, just as in the past, the laws of war that govern armed conflict in the world today though a little outdated are still practically workable to confront the problematic conflicts of the twenty-first century, no-matter how complex they are and may yet become. So I supported Bush 43s decision to invade and bring Saddam down. This agreement extended the protections described in the first Convention to shipwrecked soldiers and other naval forces, including special protections afforded to hospital ships. It was considered that this LOAC classification change would not only give more formal legal protection to the captured terrorists and extremist insurgents, but also automatically rule out any further use of enhanced interrogation techniques to extract actionable intelligence from the detainees no matter how effective or successful they were which advocates of the classification change deemed inhumane and a form of torture illegal under CIL (see endnote for a discussion on torture, and refer to American President George W. Bushs argument provided in endnote #30 above).[33].