Photo by Mathias Reding
How to react to the recent violence in the Middle East? While international law, especially the laws of war, may be soft law, there seem to be no limits on how the Middle East conflict is being conducted. Despite internationally signed treaties, pagers explode in Lebanon killing at least 12 people — including two children — and wound thousands. Walkie-talkies explode the next day, killing at least 20 people and wound 450. Israeli planes strafe targets in Beirut killing at least 45 people. In none of these actions was a distinction made between combatants and non-combatants, one of the major principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). And yet, countries at the United Nations are still trying to encourage parties to the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols to respect what they have promised to do by calling on Switzerland to convene a conference on protecting civilians in time of war.
What good will this conference do? How will a major diplomatic effort counter the killing of innocent civilians in flagrant violation of IHL?
On September 13, 2024, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) passed a resolution which; “ Calls for the convening of a Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war on measures to enforce the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to ensure respect thereof in accordance with common article 1 of the four Geneva Conventions, and invites in this regard the Government of Switzerland, in its capacity as the depositary of the Geneva Conventions, to convene the Conference within six months of the adoption of the present resolution.”
Switzerland has already convened a major conference on the Russia/ Ukraine war. At the request of Ukraine, the Swiss hosted a “Peace Summit” at Bürgenstock, Switzerland, in June 2024. There were few expectations and few results. As Swiss Foreign Minister Ignacio Cassis explained; “This is a conference on peace, not a peace conference.” The humanitarian issues discussed in a luxury hotel in Central Switzerland have had no impact in Ukraine. Neither Russia nor China attended the summit. Vice President Harris and French President Macron did very diplomatic drop-bys. President Biden was too busy flying to the U.S. for a campaign fund raiser to come to Bürgenstock right after the G//7 summit in nearby Italy.
So why another diplomatic conference? The schism between diplomatic activity and international law and what’s happening on the ground in Ukraine and the Middle East is more and more evident. The rules of how parties should behave during conflicts are there. They were elaborated following the horrors of World War II. The basic foundations of the laws of war, the Geneva Conventions and three Additional Protocols, were signed and ratified by 196 countries, more than any other international treaty.
Specifically, in terms of the current egregious violations in the Middle East, Articles 51 and 52 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I are designed to protect civilians. Article 51 says; “The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations…The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.”
Article 52 goes on; “Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals. Civilian objects are all objects which are not military objectives… Attacks shall be limited strictly to military objectives…In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used.”
Additional Protocol I has been ratified by 174 states. The United States signed it in December 1977, but it is not yet ratified.
In another attempt to uphold international law, the September 13 UNGA resolution also demanded that Israel end its “unlawful presence” in the Occupied Palestinian Territory within a year, clearly following the July 19, 2024, advisory opinion decision against Israel by the International Court of Justice. The UNGA resolution passed with 124 votes in favor, 14 against, and 43 abstentions. No major Western country except the United States voted against the resolution. Here is the list of the United States’ voting allies against the September 13 resolution: Argentina, Czech Republic, Fiji, Hungary, Israel, Malawi, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the United States.
UN resolutions, High-level diplomatic conferences. The wars in Ukraine and the Middle East continue with no significant respect for IHL. Moral outrage will not stop the fighting. Nor how the fighting is being conducted.
There are legitimate questions about the mandated conference, even in Switzerland which voted against the overall resolution since it included ordering Israeli forces from Palestinian territories and the cessation of new settlements. Who will attend the upcoming conference? How will the meeting effect what is happening in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon? What is the relationship between non-binding UNGA resolutions and enforcing IHL?
The Swiss have been mandated to organize “a Conference of High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war on measures to enforce the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and to ensure respect thereof…” Just another conference? The IHL rules are there. Their implementation is another matter. So while the International Court of Justice makes decisions, United Nations resolutions are being passed and conferences are being mandated, innocent civilians continue to be killed.
