The rules of war

As the world watches two high-profile wars unfold, heartbreaking civilian costs are mounting. Sadly this is nothing new in the human experience, but today’s mobile phones and instant social media posts mean we see more: more gore, more tears, more devastation on the most intimate levels.

The intensely personal costs of war which innocents pay on all sides — losing homes and homelands, freedoms and livelihoods, loved ones and entire families — are why long ago nations agreed-upon rules of war. Call it civility or ethics, call it practical protection of one’s own, but the rules of war were designed to minimize war’s impact on civilians, to protect the innocent and leave rulers and armies a viable population to rule and protect once the fighting is done.

And, of course, simply to reduce suffering.

In ancient times rules of war prohibited destruction en masse (even when the enemy violated that), something modern weapons have literally laid waste to. Mass destruction is especially tempting when the other side does it, but “an eye for an eye” has limits lest Earth become a nuclear wasteland (the subject of arms control agreements, but that’s not today’s topic).

Today’s collective rules of war, formally called “international humanitarian law” are laid out in the Geneva Conventions signed by 196 nations, including the U.S., Russia, Ukraine, Israel and Palestine (by the PLO, not Hamas who seized control of Gaza). IHL aims to achieve balance between the need to weaken an enemy and the desire to limit suffering for both soldiers and civilians, including aid workers, medics and the wounded.

There are five specific rules and a sixth general guideline. Violating them constitutes a war crime.

1) No targeting civilians.

Targeting civilians and buildings such as homes, schools and infrastructure such as water or sanitation facilities is a war crime. Killing or injuring any person who has surrendered or is no longer able to fight is also prohibited, as is punishing someone for something another person, even a family member or associate, has done.

The rules of war say attacks should only be directed at military objectives. Taking advantage of this by placing potential military targets such as bases and munitions stockpiles near hospitals or neighborhoods is also prohibited.

To quote the Geneva Agreement, if a planned attack’s expected "incidental civilian damage" is "excessive and disproportionate" to the anticipated military gain, then the attack can’t legally be carried out. However, if a civilian structure such as a school is not being used for that purpose and has become a site of military operations, it’s not a crime to target it.

2) No torture or inhumane treatment of detainees.

Torture and cruel, degrading or harmful treatments are expressly prohibited. Even in war detainees’ lives, rights and dignity are to be preserved. This includes medical care, edible food and clean water, protection from violence and some ability to communicate with their families.

Under the IHL there are no exceptions to this rule, even when torture might elicit lifesaving information.

3) No attacking hospitals and aid workers.

The ill and injured, whether civilian or military, have the right to basic healthcare, regardless of which side of a conflict they fall. Medical and aid workers in conflict areas generally tend to be neutral by serving both sides of the conflict. Their protection by all sides allows access to care for the wounded and sick.

The universal symbol of aid stations is a red cross or red crescent.

4) Provide safe passage (which by extension includes suitable time) for civilians to flee.

This rule includes, if not helping, then not preventing reasonable steps needed to evacuate civilians from areas where fighting exists or is anticipated. Civilians must never be blocked from fleeing.

5) Provide access to humanitarian organizations.

Civilians and militants no longer fighting have the right to medical care, food, water and shelter if needed. That makes intentionally restricting delivery of humanitarian aid — via naval or air blockades, closing ports or confiscating supplies — a war crime. Deliberately causing starvation and hunger is a war crime.

6) No unnecessary or excessive loss and suffering.

This has been translated as making tactics and weapons both proportionate and necessary to achieve a defined military objective (the “principle of proportionality”). The use of a weapon that is "by nature indiscriminate" is prohibited.

We don’t really need to know the official rules of war or any particular history to understand why it makes sense to have them. Natural human compassion, the ability to understand the experience of desperation, fear, hunger, exhaustion and extreme emotional pain, is enough to drive almost every human being to want to protect innocents. Even if we blame adults or paint people with giant swaths of assumptions based on culture, religion or accident of birth, far too many casualties of war are children.

If feeling isn’t enough, there is practicality. Agreeing on basic rules of war, which go beyond the participants in a conflict to include allies supporting them, benefits all sides — likely what has driven leaders to agree on and prosecute them even in ancient times.

For more details about what IHL covers, see www.icrc.org/en/document/ihl-rules-of-war-FAQ-Geneva-Conventions. To read the text of the rules search “Geneva Conventions” at law.cornell.edu.

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Sholeh Patrick, J.D. is a columnist for the Hagadone News Network with degrees in international studies and law. Email sholeh@cdapress.com.