![]() We should certainly strive to broaden the protection of international humanitarian law. But to abandon international humanitarian law because it doesn't avoid all death in time of war is to make the perfect the enemy of the good. Under its rules, many people can die "legally"-such as opposing combatants who can be targeted, or civilians who die as a collateral consequence of an otherwise lawful attack. International humanitarian law can be insufficient. In any case, both attacking root causes and curbing the war crimes themselves are laudable endeavors, leaving aside the question of who is best placed to pursue each. Given the resulting horror of unfettered war, one should be reluctant to abandon these life-saving norms on the unproven theory that upholding international humanitarian law somehow makes war more likely.Īggression can underlie war crimes, and so might be understood as a root cause, although even a "defender" can still commit war crimes. Many militaries purport to be guided by the laws of armed conflict, and the consequence is substantially less civilian suffering when war does break out. We leave it to others to oppose aggression.įortunately, while violations of the laws of war are frequent, overt abandonment of international humanitarian law is less common. So while there is no doubt that aggression should be opposed, should an organization like Human Rights Watch, as it seeks to uphold the Geneva Conventions and other laws of war, also address the crime of aggression? Given the practical difficulty of doing both, Human Rights Watch prioritizes upholding international humanitarian law, because of its demonstrated importance in saving lives amid armed conflict. That's the way, for example, that Russian and Syrian forces fought in Syria, and how Russian forces are now fighting in Ukraine. The alternative to war constrained by the laws of armed conflict, or international humanitarian law, is what is known as total war-war fought without any effort to minimize harm to civilians indeed, war fought to maximize civilian harm as a deliberate strategy. ![]() An apartment building explodes after a Russian army tank fires in Mariupol, Ukraine, March 11, 2022.
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