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Number of Civilian Casualties Says Nothing about Proportionality

(The Hill) Laurie R. Blank - Proportionality is one of a set of fundamental legal obligations that helps to minimize suffering during wartime. The principle of proportionality accepts that not all civilian deaths during war are unlawful, seeking to minimize civilian harm while accepting that such harm cannot be eliminated altogether. Attacks that are likely to cause excessive civilian casualties in light of the military gain from the attack are prohibited - not attacks that are likely to cause any civilian casualties, nor attacks that are likely to cause some civilian casualties, nor attacks that are likely to cause civilian casualties slightly greater than the military gain. An analysis that uses the numbers of casualties and extent of destruction to make legal claims is simply incorrect. Widely different numbers of civilian casualties between two sides in a conflict says nothing about the proportionality of particular attacks on specific targets. The writer is clinical professor of law and director of the International Humanitarian Law Clinic at Emory University School of Law.
2014-07-31 00:00:00
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