The Rights of Civilians at Times of War - Essay Example

The Rights of Civilians at times of War “The issue of human rights in times of war and armed disputes is one of the most fundamental issues and, consequently, one of the most sensitive and controversial” (Zawati 2001, p.85). 1. Introduction The rise in quantity of civilian over military casualties of wars and conflicts is alarming and although some statistics may not agree, there is a common agreement that there has been a massive worsening in the ratio of civilian in preference to military casualties of conflicts. Most upsetting, civilians are frequently the deliberate objects of aggression which are in total violation of the principles of international humanitarian law. The following sections discusses the rights of civilians at times of war, the protocols of the fourth Geneva Convention that are intended to protect innocent civilians, the rights of civilians to humane treatment and medical care, and the fundamental guarantees, and the prosecution of those who violated these rights. 2. The Right of Civilians In history, wars particularly during the eighteenth century were wars of limited liability and about something concrete rather than the earlier wars of righteousness and moral purpose (Lindsay 1957, p.165). However, although there were great wars, devastation and unnecessary bloodshed, these were kept in check by strict compliance to the rules, customs, and laws of war. Wars similar to peace could be planned and in modern war, there are rules of strategy, capitulations, military honours, treatment of prisoners, and the right of civilians. Clear division was made between armed forces and civilians in military operations. While in general, the entire enemy population was subject to attack, accepted practice normally exempted civilians. One of the traditional positions of the law of war is the defence of the civilian non-combatant population and prohibits making civilians the direct object of attack. During World War II and earlier wars, there were no particular requirements in the law of armed conflict about the management of the civilian population in areas controlled by an aggressor, other than isolated provisions of the Hague Regulations although violence against the civilian population of the adverse party would amount to war crimes. As a consequence of the treatment of civilian in occupied territory during World War II action was taken in 1949 to spell out the rights of an occupant and of the occupied in the form of Geneva Convention IV relative to the treatment of civilians in time of war, and these provisions were expanded by Protocol I, 1977 (Green 1993, p.220). 3. The Geneva Convention and Modern War In Article 51(2) of Protocol I, civilians can enjoy the protection afforded to them unless and such time as they take direct part in hostilities. This means civilians working in a military base, munitions factory, and other military-related installation is not protected. Moreover, the protection afforded to civilians at times of war will diminish instantly when they near or passing by a military objective. In this condition, these civilians will be considered legitimate collateral damage (Dinstein 2004, p.129). The main aim of humanitarian law according to Bayefsky & Fitzpatrick (2000, p.52) is to protect, as much as possible, the civilian population from the cruelty of war. Even in times of war, civilians should be able to stay in their homes and live a normal life. As mentioned earlier, the fourth convention was expanded and revised in 1977 since it was found to inadequate to protect the victims of modern military conflicts. Consequently, two extra protocols were added. The first additional protocol deals with international military conflicts and second one focus on local conflicts such as civil wars. These extra protocols both demand that the warring sides and combatants avoid attacking civilians and civilian structures such as schools and hospitals. However, many believe that modern war such as occurring post-Cold War is totally different and characteristically violent and criminal, predatory, and moved by private economic interests. For instance, wars that take place in the Balkans, Africa, Central Asia and other places can be described as more of an organised crime with massive violations of human rights. This is because they use techniques of terror, ethnic cleansing or genocide as deliberate war strategies. Actual battles in these wars are rare and oftentimes, violence is directed against civilians and consequently 90 percent of the casualties of the new wars are civilians. In the Balkans for example, the war exposed many young people to violence and a deliberate policy was to rape teenage girls and force them to bear the enemy’s child. In the European Community report, 20,000 Muslim women in Bosnia had been raped during the war, as there were no policies, limitations, or fear of revenge and sexuality seems to become a means of control and the spiteful act of rape a war strategy (Honwana 2007, p.32). The Human Rights Watch or HRW, a lead autonomous organisation responsible form assessing the level of non-combatant casualties during major combat, reported that the ground war in Iraq caused the immeasurable majority of civilian deaths. These casualties were caused by small arms fire as the battle raged in thickly populated zones. In Al-Hilla for instance, the United States surface-to-surface cluster munitions resulted in an estimated 90% of all non-combatant casualties in the area. It appears that the total number of civilians killed in the war is much higher since it includes people who died as a result of collateral damage from small arms fire and similar factors. In addition, the likelihood of these incidents was highly probable because of the presence of irregular non-uniformed Iraqi forces confronting the US and its allies. For instance, Fedayeen Saddam, a paramilitary forces founded by Saddam Hussein’s son in 1995 frequently dressed in civilian clothes to confuse the US and UK forces. This group was intentionally targeting Iraqi non-combatants, predominantly Shiites, to prevent from assisting the invading forces. They are forcing women and children as decoys in the hope of ambushing invading forces. Similarly, the Iraqi regular forces were also violating civilian rights as they used them as human shields. They also use Red Cross and Red Crescent badge to trick the invading forces, antipersonnel landmines, and deliberately neglected the evacuation non-combatants from the dangers of military operations. In other words, the Fedayeen’s and the Iraqi regular forces objective were to capitalize on the number of non-combatant casualties in order to disrupt American and its ally’s war efforts. (Dolan 2005, p.172). 4. The Right of Civilians to Medical Care and Means of Survival The Geneva Conventions, traditional international law, and medical ethics all mandate medical neutrality, protection of medical facilities, personnel, and patients from military attack or interference, humane treatment of civilians, the right of access to care, non-discriminatory treatment of the ill and wounded in time of war. However, in the wide range of human right concerns, violations of medical neutrality have been pervasive. According to Levy & Sidel (2007, p.43), hospitals were being destroyed and some occasion reduced to ruins. Physicians were target of snipers, first-aid stations and clinics were invaded and patients, medical personnel, and relief workers were assaulted, tortured, and murdered. In El Salvador for instance, health and relief workers were beaten, incarcerated, or executed for conduct as innocent as the vaccination of children. The Geneva Conventions has several stipulations particularly in its Additional Protocols that the wounded must be collected and given the medical care they require. This economic and social rights details that the physical conditions that are required in order to sustain life as much as possible thus civilians must have the essential means of survival and to accept outside relief shipments if required to realize this purpose (Steiner et al. 2008, p.460). Since civilians under the fourth Geneva Conventions are ‘protected persons’, Article 32 forbids any action that could cause the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons. These include murder, torture, corporal punishment, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment. Article 3 provides that “persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including members of armed force who have surrendered their arms....shall in all circumstances be treated humanely and the wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for” (McPhee 2006, p.64). 5. The Fundamental Guarantees In Article 4 to 8 of Protocol II of 1977, clearly states that those persons who do not take a direct part or no longer taking part in hostilities shall be treated with respect and honour. The use of the following is therefore prohibited at any and any place during a conflict. a. Violence to the life, health, physical or mental being of individual such as murder, torture, mutilation, or any form of brutal punishments. b. Hostage taking and acts of terrorism c. Offending a person’s dignity such humiliation, rape, forcing a person to prostitution, and any offensive to a person’s personal dignity that may include slavery. d. Looting and other act of pillaging, e. Regardless of participation, active or not, the wounded and sick shall be respected and protected. They should be treated humanely in all circumstances and should be given medical care and attention required by their condition. Moreover, Article 13 or the Protection of the Civilian Population specifically states that civilians shall not be the target of an attack and acts of terrorism. Civilians should enjoy the protection of the protocol unless and at a later time a particular civilian or civilians take a direct part in hostilities (Singh 1986, p.129). 6. Violation of Civilian Rights and Punishment Violations of the rules of war are largely to blame for the millions of death and the lives many civilians were reduced to surviving because all parties in the war not only destroyed their families but deprived them of their means of self-sufficiency (Rone et al. 1994, p.11). These atrocities are punishable and the International Tribunal can prosecute persons committing such violations of the laws of war. These include those who perpetrated needless destruction of cities, attack on undefended towns or villages, destruction and plunder of public or private property (Hazan 2004, p.204). For instance, it is punishable to commit genocide or killing or harming members of race or religious groups, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane act that is directed against any civilian population. Therefore, any person find guilty of planning, instigating, ordered, and committed such act shall be responsible for the crime and may sentenced to death if found guilty. Crimes against humanity were a joint declaration of France, Great Britain, and Russia in 1915 that denounced such a crime and warned of personal accountability and this include crimes committed against a country’s own population (Cryer & Robinson 2007 p.189). 7. Conclusion Although existing laws of war protects civilians and forbids both sides from making civilian the direct object of the attack, violations of human rights and the rights of civilians at times of war is reportedly increasing because civilians are often vulnerable and easy targets of hostilities. The fourth Geneva Convention was form in 1949 and was later expanded to include three provisions in 1977. Protocol I ensures the protection of civilians at times of war for as long as they would not take a direct part in hostilities. Protocol II as a little different as it deals with civil or local wars but both are prohibiting any attack on civilians and civilian structures. However, unlike the previous world wars, modern wars are characterised by violence and criminal acts with massive violations of human rights. Consequently, the number of civilian casualties is much larger than the military that are actually fighting the war. Civilians are harmed and being deprived of their needs including medical treatment. They were assaulted, tortured, humiliated, murdered, and being denied of their means of survival. Civilians are considered protected persons and under the fourth Geneva Convention must be protected from physical and emotional sufferings unless such time they decided to take part in hostilities. Atrocities towards innocent civilians are punishable and they can be prosecuted by an International Tribunal. Any person who participated in planning, instigating, ordering, and actually committed a crime against humanity must be punished accordingly. 8. Bibliography BAYEFSKY A.F. & FITZPATRICK J. 2000, Human rights and forced displacement. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Netherlands CRYER R. & ROBINSON D. 2007. An introduction to international criminal law and procedure, Cambridge University Press, 2007, UK DINSTEIN Y. 2004. The conduct of hostilities under the law of international armed conflict. Cambridge University Press, UK DOLAN C. 2005. In war we trust: the Bush doctrine and the pursuit of just war. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., UK GREEN L. 1993. The contemporary law of armed conflict. Manchester University Press ND, UK HAZAN P. 2004. Justice in a time of war: the true story behind the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Texas A&M University Press, US HONWANA A. 2007. Child Soldiers in Africa. University of Pennsylvania Press, US LEVY S. & SIDEL V.W. 2007. 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