Contemporary Challenges Facing International Humanitarian Law

1925 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of the 9/11 attack

A substantial argument which is increasingly becoming a matter of contention in the event of contemporary armed conflict is the applicability of civilian protection during armed conflict that involves non-state actors. This paper shall discuss the contemporary challenges facing international humanitarian law with regards to civilian protection during such armed conflict. It will concentrate on the situation in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks of 2001. The aim of the paper will be to analyze the reasons why civilians are neglected during conflicts and how the different actors involved in the conflicts influence international humanitarian law. This purpose is guided with the need to understand why most of the casualties of modern conflicts are mainly civilians and not soldiers.
The paper will examine the Afghanistan conflict using the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the two Additional Protocols of 1977. As a general principle, civilians are entitled to protected status under international humanitarian law and may not be attacked. However, the laws of war recognize that some civilians are more innocent and deserving of protection than others and that those who take a direct part in hostilities during an armed conflict forfeit their protected status and may be attacked1. However, military officers are under an obligation to take all possible actions to protect a civilian population2. This is because during an armed conflict, the protection of civilians outweighs any collateral military objectives.
United States invasion of Afghanistan
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, on the World Trade Center in New York City and on the Pentagon in Washington D.C.3, the U.S. government deployed its troops to Afghanistan in Octo...

... middle of paper ...

...hgate Publishing.
International Committee of the Red Cross; Ed. Pictet, J. (1960). The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949: Geneva convention for the amelioration of the condition of wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea. International Committee of the Red Cross.
McCoubrey, H. (1998). International humanitarian law: modern developments in the limitation of warfare. Dartmouth: Ashgate Publishing.
Rogers, P. (2004). A War on Terror: Afghanistan and After. USA: Pluto Press.
Steiner, H., Alston, P.. Goodman (2008). International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics, Morals : Text and Materials. UK: Oxford University Press.
UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), Afghanistan: Annual Report 2013, Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, February 2014, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/52f884634.html [accessed 12 February 2014].

Show More
Related

  • OPERATION ANACONDA

    2014 Words  | 5 Pages

    September 11, 2001, Osama Bin Laden decided to “wake the sleeping giant.” The US immediately sent SOF units and CIA officers to recon the area and meet with the Northern Alliance. The primary battle leading up to this operation was Tora Bora, which was absent of conventional forces. Up until this point, the war on terror was predominantly a Special Operations fight along with Air Force for overhead support.3 SOF and the Northern Alliance had already displaced Taliban forces out of many towns and villages in northern Afghanistan to gain control of key terrain. Key towns in northern Afghanistan including Taloqan, Konduz, Herat, and Mazar-e Sharif took only three weeks to clear.4 The SOF units were making huge impacts across the country calling in air strikes. At the same time the SOF units were diligently...

    Read More

  • Mission Command

    1537 Words  | 4 Pages

    Jalali, Ali Ahmad, and Lester W. Grau. Afghan Guerrilla Warfare - In the Words of the Mujahideen Fighters. St. Paul: MBI Publishing Company, 2001.

    Read More

  • No Such Thing as a Humanitarian Intervention

    1940 Words  | 4 Pages

    Humanitarian intervention after the post-cold war has been one of the main discussions in the International Relation theories. The term intervention generally brings a negative connotation as it defines as the coercive interference by the outside parties to a sovereign state that belongs in the community. The humanitarian intervention carried out by international institutions and individual sovereign states has often been related to the usage of military force. Therefore, it is often perceived intervention as a means of ways to stop sovereign states committing human rights abuse to its people. This essay will focus on the key concepts of allowing for humanitarian intervention mainly in moral and justice in international society. This essay will also contribute some arguments against humanitarian intervention from different aspects of theories in International Relation Theory.

    Read More

  • Dbq Essay On Human Rights Violations

    693 Words  | 2 Pages

    There have been many humanitarians that strive to help countries suffering with human right abuses. People think that the help from IGOs and NGOs will be enough to stop human rights violations. However, it hasn’t been effective. Every day, more and more human rights violations happen. The problem is escalating. People, including children, are still being forced to work to death, innocent civilians are still suffering the consequences of war, and families are struggling to stay firm together. Despite the efforts from the people, IGOs, and NGOs, In the year 2100, human rights abuse will not end.

    Read More

  • Zero Dark Thirty is a Movie Loosely Based on Osama Bin Laden

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Historical Significance: The September 11th, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, orchestrated by Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden, were the events that launched the U.S. War on Terrorism. Al-Qaeda’s attack on the United States was carried out by members of radicalized Islamic groups, whose objective was to spread jihad against the secular influence of the West. This tragic event provided the historical b...

    Read More

  • Civil War Victimization Analysis

    681 Words  | 2 Pages

    This article explores the idea that governments knowingly victimize civilians under war when they feel weakened or defenceless. The article provides two main reasons that states engage in victimization of civilians; desperation or appetite for territorial conquest. The former refers to lowering costs of war on the states part by increasing the enemy’s cost and lowering the enemy’s morale for continuing the battle. The latter refers to a states want for more land to claim, using force and death to get what they want, by subduing or eliminating the enemy. The civilians who are targeted for these purposes are also chosen strategically. Mistreatment of civilians of the enemy occurs when specific values or traditions are seen as barbaric to the

    Read More

  • The World Trade Center Bombing

    1597 Words  | 4 Pages

    It’s a normal day at work when suddenly there is an explosion, trapping hundreds of people inside collapsing buildings covered in rubble. Coworkers, friends, and family are gone, never to be seen again, lost to senseless acts of terrorism. In 1993, 1998, and 2000, these events came to pass in the form of terrorist bombings on U.S. targets across the globe. The World Trade Center complex was a symbol of wealth and prosperity, but quickly became the target for radical Muslims and was attacked early in 1993. Despite this attack, the American people did not think that the terrorist organization behind the attack, al-Qaeda, was much of a threat, failing to properly respond to the attack and prepare for the future. Five years later and across the globe, another bombing occurred. This attack targeted the U.S. embassies in the African countries of Kenya and Tanzania. Again, the U.S. was distracted from the incident and did not react in a proper manner. Finally, in 2000, the U.S. was again subjected to a terrorist attack, this time on a naval warship docked in Yemen. The country again looked on in horror as the unthinkable happened, leaving people to again question their safety. Although these attacks on American targets were devastating, the United States should have learned from its mistakes to better prepare and defend against the September 11th attacks.

    Read More

  • Canada Going To War Essay

    1151 Words  | 3 Pages

    Along with the financial costs, there is human cost with the loss of life of civilians, Canadian soldiers. The invasion of Afghanistan is only a short term solution to a bigger problem. When Canada and other nations leave the country, the Taliban and the warlord tribes will continue to insight fear on the Afghan citizens (Endersby, 2011). Conclusion Canada’s involvement has brought about a continuous debate on whether or not they should be in Afghanistan fighting a war that is half a world away. The events of September 11, 2001 in the United States reinforced the need to fight terrorism on a global scale.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Humanitarian Intervention

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of most crucial aspects of humanitarian intervention is the lack of proper motives. As noted by Bush, Martiniello, and Mercer, in the case of Libya and Côte d’Ivoire the Western nations were pursuing their own economic imperial interests under the guise of humanitarian intervention (Bush). The lack of pure motives to help decrease crimes against humanity resulted in an increased number of human rights violations in both Libya and Côte d’Ivoire (Bush). In order

    Read More

  • The Role of the Red Cross in International Humanitarian Law

    978 Words  | 2 Pages

    Abandoning his original plan, Dunant started to organize medical attendance and more relief to the wounded in the battle field. He later put up propositions to the major European countries where a committee was formed and it later became the ICRC 1863 , subsequently in August 1864, the committee persuaded governments to adopt the first Geneva Convention, “Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field” which was a legally binding treaty that obliged armies to care for wounded without discrimination on the basis on whose side they were on, it also introduced a unified emblem for the medical services which incidentally was a red cross on a white background .

    Read More

  • Stereotypes, Discrimination and Prejudice

    1493 Words  | 3 Pages

    8) ?After the Attack?The War on Terrorism? (2001). Online at: <http://www.monthlyreview.org/1101edit.htm>, consulted on March 29th, 2004.

    Read More

  • Humanitarian Intervention

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    The complex issue of humanitarian intervention is widely argued and inherently controversial. Humanitarian intervention involves the coercive action of states intervening in areas for the sole purpose of preventing or halting the killing or suffering of the people there. (1, 9, 5) It is an issue argued fervently amongst restrictionists and counter-restrictionists, who debate over whether humanitarian intervention is a breach of international law or a moral requirement. (10) Restrictionists argue that Articles 2 (7) and 2 (4) of the United Nations (UN) Charter render forcible humanitarian intervention illegal. The only legitimate exception to this, they claim, is the right to self defence, as enshrined in Article 51 of the UN Charter. (1-472) This position is contested by counter-restrictionists, who insist that any and all nations have the right, and the responsibility, to prevent humanitarian disasters. (8-5) Despite the declaration of a ‘new world order’, the post-Cold war world has not been a more peaceful one: regional and ethnic conflicts have, in fact, proliferated. Between 1989 and 1993, for example, thirteen new peacekeeping operations were launched by th...

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Humanitarian Intervention

    1494 Words  | 3 Pages

    Although, within the U.N. Charter of 1945, Article 2(4) prohibits the use of force against ‘the territorial integrity or political independence of any state’ (U.N. Charter, art.2 para.4), it has been suggested by counter-restrictionist international lawyers, that humanitarian intervention does not fall under these criteria, making it legally justifiable under the U.N. Charter (e.g. Damrosch 1991:219 in Baylis and Smith 2001: 481). However, this viewpoint lacks credibility, as it is far from the general international consensus, and unlikely the initial intentions of the draftsmen of the charter. In more recent times, one can examine the emerging doctrine of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’(RtoP), which was adopted unanimously by the UN in 2005, as a far more persuasive example of modern legitimacy of humanitarian intervention. While not consolidated within international law, RtoP, which promotes humanitarian intervention where sovereign states fail in their own responsibility to protect their citizens, does use legal language and functions as a comprehensive international framework to prevent human rights

    Read More

  • Are Human Rights Universal?

    1599 Words  | 4 Pages

    Magno, A., (2001) Human Rights in Times of Conflict: Humanitarian Intervention . Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs, 2 (5). [online] Available from: [Accessed 2 March 2011]

    Read More

  • Afghanistan National Reconciliation and Peace Process

    1872 Words  | 4 Pages

    Council, H. P. (2012). Afghanistan's vision by 2015 . Kabul: High Peace Council law committee .

    Read More

More about Contemporary Challenges Facing International Humanitarian Law

Open Document