By the end of this lecture you should be able to understand: why civilians are to be considered “innocent” the moral and legal importance of civilian immunity that the attacking force carries responsibility for protecting civilians that even the accidental killing of civilians is politically damaging

1. Civilian Immunity and “Collateral Damage”
Professor Joel Hayward

2. By the end of this lecture you should be able to understand:
why civilians are to be considered “innocent”
the moral and legal importance of civilian immunity
that the attacking force carries responsibility for protecting civilians
that even the accidental killing of civilians is politically damaging

3. “Gentlemen, we need to understand
the implications of what we are doing.
Air power contains the seeds of our
own destruction.
“A [Taliban] guy with a long-barrel
rifle runs into a compound, and we
drop a 500-pound bomb on it?
“Civilian casualties are not just some
reality with the Washington press.
They are a reality for the Afghan
people. If we use airpower irrespons-
ibly, we can lose this fight.”
— General Stanley A. McChrystal
October 2009

4. Ratio of civilian to combatant deaths
Civilians Combatants
• English Civil War 10% 90%
• Napoleonic Wars 20% 80%
• First World War 25% 75%
• Second World War 60% 40%
• Vietnam 65% 35%
• Gulf War I 80% 20%
• Gulf War II 90% 10%
• Current insurgencies 96% 4%

5. Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians Persons in
Time of War (194)

6. Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians Persons in
Time of War (194)
The World’s Response
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide. UN General Assembly Resolution 260(III), 9 Dec. 1948
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN), 10 December 1948
• Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians Persons in
Time of War (IV Geneva Convention, 1949)
• Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (1977)

7. Ratio of civilian to combatant deaths
Civilians Combatants
• English Civil War 10% 90%
• Napoleonic Wars 20% 80%
• First World War 25% 75%
• Second World War 60% 40%
• Vietnam 65% 35%
• Gulf War I 75% 25%
• Gulf War II 85% 15%
• Current insurgencies 85% 15%

9. Violence against civilians during war
• Direct attack
• “Collateral damage”
• Reprisal violence
• Torture / Sexual violence

10. Violence against civilians during war
• Displacement
• Loss of dwelling
• Lack of food / water
• Lack of medicine and healthcare
• Psychological trauma

11. Our Adherence to Morality and Legality

12. A civilian is anyone who:
• is not a member of an armed force
• is not a member of a civilian militia during the time of hostilities
• is not involved in the planning and implementation of military violence

13. Article 48 of Additional Protocol I states:
“the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the
civilian population and combatants and between civilians objects and
military objects and accordingly shall direct their operations only
against military objectives.”

14. Why must civilians not be attacked?
• Moral innocence
• Weakness and vulnerability

15. The current strategic environment?

16. • “The Taliban make discrimination impossible because they choose
to look like the citizenry”
• “They deliberately fight from within civilian concentrations to exploit
our adherence to international law”
• “They use houses, shops and mosques for cover”
• “Any collateral damage is therefore their moral responsibility”

17. Additional Protocol I prohibits the deliberate placing of:
• civilians around military objects to protect them from attack
• military objects “within or near densely populated areas”
• military objects within or next to places of worship, hospitals, schools
or sites of cultural importance

18. Who is responsible for protecting civilians if anyone deliberately places:
• civilians around military things?
• military things in the midst of civilians?
• military things in mosques, hospitals, schools or cultural sites?

19. Answer:
• Even the presence of unjust fighters “does not deprive the civilian
population of its civilian character” (Article 50(3) AP I)

20. • Regardless of the inappropriate actions of any defender, the attacker
has the responsibility to protect the civilians

22. What is necessary?
• Real-time information
• Minimal delays between sensors and shooters
• Checks and balances
• Commitment to justice

23. Article 52(2) of AP I permits attacks on “objects”:
“which by their very nature, location, purpose or use make an effective
contribution to military action and whose total or partial destruction,
capture or neutralisation, in the circumstances ruling at the time, offers
a definite military advantage.”

24. Article 51(5) of AP I prohibits as “indiscriminate”:
“an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian
life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination
thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct
military advantage anticipated.”

25. Political consequences of getting it wrong?

27. “To the great people of Afghanistan,
Salaam Aleichem … As commander of
the International Security Assistance
Force, nothing is more important than
the safety and protection of the Afghan
people … I take the loss of life or injury
to innocent Afghans very seriously. … I
have ordered an investigation into the
reasons and results of this attack, which
I will share with the Afghan people.”
— General Stanley A. McChrystal

29. Thank you