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Proportionality in Modern Asymmetrical Wars

(Global Law Forum) Amichai Cohen - The concept of proportionality permits military personnel to kill innocent civilians, provided that the intended targets of the operation are enemy forces and not civilians. In October 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia, over one thousand civilians are believed to have been killed by American fire. In its air campaign against Serbia in 1999, NATO adopted a policy of zero risk to its soldiers. Pilots flew at a relatively high altitude and the number of civilian deaths was around 500. In Fallujah, Iraq, in April 2004, U.S. forces employed vast quantities of fire power in an urban setting known to house civilians, in order to protect the lives of American soldiers. As the uses of force in Somalia, Kosovo, and Iraq show, Western armies are very concerned about protecting the lives of their soldiers, and to that end are willing to risk many civilian lives. They also find acceptable the notion that civilian lives can be forfeited in order to attain important military goals. Proportionality cannot be detached from the question of responsibility: which side created the situation in which civilians find themselves? Israel's Gaza operation clearly shows that Israeli commanders successfully followed the requirements of the administrative model of the principle of proportionality. The IDF required commanders to take humanitarian law into account in the planning stages of the operation. Legal advisors were involved in the planning of many operations and provided advice regarding specific targets. The right questions were asked, checks were made, and the incidental damage to civilians was on the whole limited.
2010-01-22 08:40:55
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