![]() ![]() It’s also prohibited to target what are called “civilian objects,” which would include a theater unless that theater is being used for military purposes. Those are protected objects, regardless of whether they are displaying the emblem of the Red Cross or Red Crescent. There are specific war crimes associated with attacking hospitals or medical units. The theater was reportedly marked with the Russian word for children in letters large enough to be visible from the sky. Russian strikes on a maternity hospital and a theater in Ukraine drew international outrage. If the population is composed predominantly of civilians, it can’t be claimed that they were collateral damage. Relatedly, belligerents are not allowed to attack a civilian population, even if there are some combatants present. That is prohibited and can also qualify as a war crime. This is where those engaged in the attack target an area without discretely targeting a specific military objective. The next category is what we call an indiscriminate attack on a civilian population. ![]() Obviously, there’s a lot of debate around what exactly “excessive” means, which can make it difficult to prosecute. It’s lawful to target a military objective, but an attack on such an objective can be illegal and rise to the level of a war crime if those engaged in the attack know that the collateral damage expected from that targeting-including loss of civilian life, injury to civilians-will be clearly excessive in relation to the military advantage they expect from attacking that military objective. Civilians engaged in ordinary life, even civilians working in munitions factories and so on, can’t be targeted. The only exception to that is if the civilian is directly participating in hostilities. The first and most obvious is you can’t target civilians. There are several different rules at stake. Is killing civilians during a war always a war crime? The International Criminal Court statute lays out 34 different criminal categories applicable in international armed conflicts. These rules regarding how to fight apply to both sides. Liability for war crimes can attach at any level in the command chain.Ī war crime is a serious violation of the law governing the conduct of armed conflict, for which individuals can be held responsible. The second is a war crime, which is a crime relating to conduct in the war-in other words, how to fight. Liability for that crime attaches only to those in leadership positions. So that’s about the invasion of Ukraine in the first place. The first is the crime of aggression, which is a crime of resorting to war without a legal basis. Tom Dannenbaum: There are two different kinds of crime relating to war. Tufts Now spoke with Dannenbaum to learn more about war crimes, how they’re defined, and whether a leader like Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to be tried for committing them. A growing number of countries with the legal jurisdiction to do so have also launched investigations, said Dannenbaum, who writes extensively on the laws of war and is the author of The Crime of Aggression, Humanity, and the Soldier. The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Netherlands, is investigating possible war crimes and crimes against humanity that may have been committed in Ukraine. “The statement suggests that the administration wants to facilitate such processes where possible, and that it is going to devote resources to doing that.” government wants criminal justice to be pursued in this situation,” said Dannenbaum, an assistant professor of international law at The Fletcher School. The announcement indicates that “the U.S. “A number of states-Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, and Ukraine-have already opened investigations into alleged crimes occurring in Ukraine,” says Tom Dannenbaum, assistant professor of international law at The Fletcher School. ![]()
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