What war crimes laws apply to the Israel-Palestinian conflict

What war crimes laws apply to the Israel-Palestinian conflict

Subject: IR

Section: International Conventions

Context: The recent conflict between Israel and Palestinian forces since militant group Hamas’ weekend assault.

What laws govern the conflict:

• International rules for armed conflict originated from the 1949 Geneva Conventions, ratified by all UN member states.
• These rules are encompassed in the “Law of Armed Conflict” or “International Humanitarian Law,” governing the treatment of civilians, soldiers, and prisoners of war.
• The law is applicable to government forces and organized armed groups, including Hamas militants.
• The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague is the primary international body for bringing charges if alleged perpetrators of atrocities are not prosecuted locally.
• The ICC can investigate crimes on its members’ territory or by their nationals when domestic authorities are “unwilling or unable” to do so.
• The ICC’s prosecutor’s office confirmed its mandate applies to potential crimes in the current conflict and is actively collecting information.

What are war crimes:

• War crimes encompass grave breaches of humanitarian laws within conflicts.
• The Rome Statute of the ICC provides the definition, which draws from the principles of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
• It centres on the principle of individual accountability for actions committed on behalf of a state or its armed forces. Illustrative examples include hostage-taking, deliberate killings, torture or inhumane treatment of prisoners of war, and the recruitment of child soldiers.

What is Criteria for War Crimes:

• International humanitarian law employs three key principles to determine whether an individual or military has committed a war crime:
  • Distinction: This principle forbids targeting objectives that are likely to cause excessive harm to civilians or civilian infrastructure compared to the expected military advantage.
  • Proportionality: Proportionality restricts the use of disproportionate force in response to an attack. For instance, it prohibits indiscriminate retaliation, such as bombing an entire city for the death of a single soldier.
  • Precaution: Parties involved in a conflict are obligated to take measures that prevent or minimize harm to the civilian population.

What are the Geneva Conventions (1949):

• The Geneva Conventions, established in 1949 along with their Additional Protocols, represent crucial international agreements that set forth fundamental regulations to mitigate the cruelty of armed conflict.
• These conventions provide safeguards for non-combatantsi.e civilians, medical personnel, humanitarian workers and individuals who are no longer able to participate in combat  i.e injured, sick, and shipwrecked military personnel, as well as prisoners of war.
• The First Geneva Convention protects wounded and sick soldiers on land during war.
• The Second Geneva Convention protects wounded, sick and shipwrecked military personnel at sea during war.
• The Third Geneva Convention applies to prisoners of war, including a wide range of general protections such as humane treatment, maintenance and equality across prisoners, conditions of captivity, questioning and evacuation of prisoners, transit camps, food, clothing, medicines, hygiene and right to religious, intellectual, and physical activities of prisoners.
• The Fourth Geneva Convention protects civilians, including those in occupied territory. The other Geneva Conventions were concerned mainly with combatants rather than civilians.
• Two Protocols of 1977: Additional to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1977. They strengthen the protection of victims of international (Protocol I) and non-international (Protocol II) armed conflicts and place limits on the way wars are fought.
• In 2005, a third Additional Protocol was adopted creating an additional emblem, the Red Crystal, which has the same international status as the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems.