International Humanitarian Law (IHL) on Human Shields and Forced Displacement

October 21, 2023

GS Paper II International Relations

Context:

The United States President on October 15 accused the Palestinian militant group Hamas of using innocent Palestinians as human shields.
Meanwhile, protests rage in the Arab world and beyond, condemning Israel’s forced displacement of Gazans and other Palestinians.

What are human shields?

The term ‘human shields’ is used in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with respect to civilians or other protected persons, whose presence or movement is aimed, or used to render military targets immune from military operations.
Using human shields is considered a war crime and banned as per Rule 97 of the IHL. At the same time, it is also prohibited to attack human shields.

International Humanitarian law (IHL): International humanitarian law is also known as the law of war or the law of armed conflict.

It is a set of rules which seek, for humanitarian reasons, to limit the effects of armed conflict. It protects persons who are not or are no longer participating in the hostilities and restricts the means and methods of warfare.

Geneva Conventions of 1949

These Conventions provide specific rules to safeguard combatants, or members of the armed forces, who are wounded, sick or shipwrecked, prisoners of war, and civilians, as well as medical personnel, military chaplains and civilian support workers of the military.
The Conventions have been developed and supplemented by two further agreements: the Additional Protocols of 1977 relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts.

War crimes

War crimes are those violations of international humanitarian law (treaty or customary law) that incur individual criminal responsibility under international law.
As a result, and in contrast to the crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity, war crimes must always take place in the context of an armed conflict, either international or non-international.

What is forced displacement?

Ordering the displacement of the civilian population for reasons related to the conflict, unless the security of the civilians involved or imperative military reasons so demand,” constitutes forcible displacement according to Rome statutes.
The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Norwegian Refugee Council described the order to “forcibly transfer” civilians as unlawful.
The Israeli military demand that 1.2 million civilians in northern Gaza relocate to its south within 24 hours, without any guarantees of safety or return, would amount to the war crime of forcible transfer.
The difference between evacuation and forced transfer depended on whether the act would “actually benefit the security of the civilians.”

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted in July 1998 and entered into force in July 2002.

The ICC is an intergovernmental organisation with 123 member states. However, India is not a member state of the ICC, and has never signed its core treaty, the ‘Rome Statute’.
It is a tribunal that investigates and charges individuals in cases of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.

Source: Indian Express