Theory&Action
16th March 2011, 08:48
With all of the attention being payed to the current events in Libya, it occurred to me that there is an opportunity which, if possible, would greatly curb the powers of repressive states. The world community seems to be genuinely outraged that Gaddafi is using air power against his own citizens. My proposal - use that popular sentiment to make the use of air power against a country's own citizens a war crime.
As far as I can tell, there are no current international laws against this action. The Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research manual on International Law Applicable to Air and Missile Warfare only makes the distinction that "Civilians lose their protection from attack if and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities" which are further outlined. I believe a case could be made using the 11th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that "Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence". By killing off a citizen using aircraft, that person is given no opportunity to surrender or to defend themselves.
My motivation for advancing this position is the fact that, as would be expected, states that use aircraft to bomb their own citizens are almost all counter-revolutionary. The list of countries that I can currently think of that use these tactics includes:
Libya - Don't want to get into whether to support the rebels or Gaddafi, but he would at least be held responsible for his military decisions
Colombia - Would stop the bombing of the FARC-EP and the ELN
India- Would stop the bombing of Maoist forces
Israel - I hope all of us would love to see the bombing of the Palestinian people stop.
Pakistan and Afghanistan- The bombing of supposed Taliban suspects without any oversight does nothing to root out fanaticism.
Russia - Don't know much about the separatists, but bombing into submission doesn't work
Really the only leftist cause I can think of that would have been hampered was the use of air power by the Sandinistas against the contras. I must say that I don't see this ever making it through the UN, especially with the permanent US veto power. So, am I gravely mistaken? Could there be any possibility of this being passed? I leave you with a highly relevant quote by George Orwell -
I think the following rule would be found generally true: that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon--so long as there is no answer to it--gives claws to the weak.
As far as I can tell, there are no current international laws against this action. The Harvard Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research manual on International Law Applicable to Air and Missile Warfare only makes the distinction that "Civilians lose their protection from attack if and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities" which are further outlined. I believe a case could be made using the 11th article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states that "Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence". By killing off a citizen using aircraft, that person is given no opportunity to surrender or to defend themselves.
My motivation for advancing this position is the fact that, as would be expected, states that use aircraft to bomb their own citizens are almost all counter-revolutionary. The list of countries that I can currently think of that use these tactics includes:
Libya - Don't want to get into whether to support the rebels or Gaddafi, but he would at least be held responsible for his military decisions
Colombia - Would stop the bombing of the FARC-EP and the ELN
India- Would stop the bombing of Maoist forces
Israel - I hope all of us would love to see the bombing of the Palestinian people stop.
Pakistan and Afghanistan- The bombing of supposed Taliban suspects without any oversight does nothing to root out fanaticism.
Russia - Don't know much about the separatists, but bombing into submission doesn't work
Really the only leftist cause I can think of that would have been hampered was the use of air power by the Sandinistas against the contras. I must say that I don't see this ever making it through the UN, especially with the permanent US veto power. So, am I gravely mistaken? Could there be any possibility of this being passed? I leave you with a highly relevant quote by George Orwell -
I think the following rule would be found generally true: that ages in which the dominant weapon is expensive or difficult to make will tend to be ages of despotism, whereas when the dominant weapon is cheap and simple, the common people have a chance. Thus, for example, tanks, battleships and bombing planes are inherently tyrannical weapons, while rifles, muskets, long-bows and hand-grenades are inherently democratic weapons. A complex weapon makes the strong stronger, while a simple weapon--so long as there is no answer to it--gives claws to the weak.