IRIN Web Special on Civilian Protection in Armed Conflict

Resident or displaced civilians are often specifically targeted for violent attack, rather than war affecting them incidentally, and this has led to an unacceptably high toll on human life and livelihoods, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

At the UN Security Council in November last year, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said: "The toll of dead and wounded - particularly among innocent civilians - has risen to levels that can be described, without any exaggeration, as appalling."

He highlighted Sudan, saying aid workers "have collectively been dismayed by the recent pattern of attacks on civilians, humanitarian workers and facilities, including the shameful attacks on civilians at or near food distribution sites".

He also cited the case of Angola, where, he said, more than a third of the population - over 4.5 million people - had been displaced as a result of a conflict that lasted for more than 30 years.

In Afghanistan, a quarter of a century of war has taken a heavy toll on the population of Afghanistan, causing the death by violence or disease of millions of people. Millions more Afghans are still locked in abject poverty, and the country has among the worst social and human welfare indicators in the world.

In the DRC, the humanitarian consequences of war in the east - driven substantially by the scramble for the illegal exploitation of Congo's natural and mineral resources - have been horrific, according to a panel of experts investigating the problem in a report in October 2002.

In the five eastern provinces of the DRC, the number of excess deaths directly attributable to the Rwandan and Ugandan occupation between 1998 and September 2002 had been between three million and 3.5 million people, the panel said.

And these are just some of the violent conflicts - admittedly towards the worst end of the scale - that continue to challenge the international community but, more particularly, civilian populations living in danger and misery.

Yet the humanitarian imperative, according to Kofi Annan, means working "to establish human security where it is no longer present, where it is under threat, or where it never existed."

Protection under International Humanitarian Law

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) lays down the minimum protection and standards applicable to situations where people are most vulnerable in armed conflict. It aims to prevent situations that might exacerbate vulnerabilities, such as displacement and destruction of civilian property.

International humanitarian law demands of belligerents that they respect the principles of distinction (between combatants and non-combatants), proportionality (of violence used) and precaution (against disproportionate effects of military attacks on non-combatants) in using violent means in situations of conflict.

Perhaps the most important of these, certainly in relation to civilian protection is that of distinction, which underpins the Geneva Conventions and their additional protocols.

This requires combatants to distinguish between those actively engaged in hostilities, on the one hand, and civilians and others (including the sick, wounded and prisoners of war) on the other. It also demands that combatants distinguish between civilian objects and military objectives. Non-combatants are protected under international humanitarian law and entitled to immunity from attack.

In that regard, international humanitarian law plays the role in time of war or violent conflict that human rights law plays in peacetime, guaranteeing fundamental rights for each individual.

According to the ICRC, the law of armed conflict:

• Protects, in armed conflict, all who do not, or who no longer, take part in hostilities: civilians, wounded and sick soldiers, prisoners of war
• Strives to prevent parties to an armed conflict from resorting to criminal methods and indiscriminate or disproportionate use of force
• Forms part of the international legal framework that aims to uphold human dignity and protect people from arbitrary treatment

Violations of IHL

In defiance of international humanitarian law, deliberate acts against civilians still result in terror, starvation, sexual violence, disappearances, the use of children as fighters and families being torn apart and forced disappearances, according to Angelo Gnaedinger, director-general of the ICRC.

Among the key issues that often arise, in the context of humanitarian emergencies and armed conflicts, are: securing access to affected civilian populations and the physical security of civilians and humanitarian workers.

"We're constantly having to call for full and unhindered access, respect for civilian populations, respect for [humanitarian] emblems, and making sure that all parties recognize the need to ensure the safety and security of aid workers," says Elissa Golberg, Deputy Director of the Human Rights, Humanitarian Affairs and International Women's Equality Division of Canada's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

The nature of war is also changing, as conflicts become increasingly inter-related (whether at local, national or regional level) and the means of warfare evolves, including the deliberate targeting of civilians and the waging of war for specifically economic motives.

More and more conflicts involve the targeting or forced displacement of civilians - as warring parties fight over territorial control, as a means to weaken enemy forces by targeting host or supportive communities, or to access natural resources.

The parties involved are changing and proliferating, including non-state actors with uncertain chains of command that make dialogue and negotiation difficult and dangerous.

"The fact that, in a lot of circumstances, we're seeing armed groups that don't have standards 'command and control' functions, that don't operate with standard military rules of procedures; that sometimes they're child soldiers, who are on drugs or who have been kidnapped - this is obviously complicating the environment," Elissa Golberg told IRIN.

As warring parties fight over territorial control, as a means to weaken enemy forces by targeting host or supportive communities, or to access natural resources, more and more conflicts involve the targeting or forced displacement of civilians.

Continued?