Daily Alert Archives

Human Shields: Back to Reality

(Jerusalem Post) Amnon Rubinstein and Yaniv Roznai - While the prohibition against using civilians as human shields is widely acknowledged under international humanitarian law, the current law and its application have become incompatible with modern warfare and lead to undesirable results. In recent conflicts, including in Gaza in 2009, the strongest criticism has been directed at the counter-attacking party, usually an army of a democratic state, rather than the parties that utilized civilians in order to shield themselves, usually forces of a non-democratic state or irregular organizations such as al-Qaeda or Hamas. The counterattackers are vilified; the shielders are ignored or even exonerated. The current application of the law encourages the belligerent to use human shields against military counter-attacks. This leads directly to unfortunate results, since the flagrant use of human shields can effectively prevent an attack on a legitimate enemy target. Amnon Rubinstein is a professor of law at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, and a former Minister of Education. Yaniv Roznai is a PhD candidate at the London School of Economics.
2011-08-19 00:00:00
Full Article