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Knock on the Roof: Legitimate Warning or Method of Warfare?
Abstract
This chapter aims to address the practice of using a “knock on the roof” as a warning before air strikes are launched in order to mitigate civilian casualties during armed conflict. It involves the dropping of non-explosive or low-impact type of munitions on the intended target. This “knock” is reportedly accompanied by other specific warnings, such as telephone calls and text-messages, indicating that the attack on the building is imminent. The knock is intended to be used on a legitimate military objective, leaving no doubt that the attack is in fact about to happen, and urging civilians to relocate to a safer place. This chapter aims to analyse whether, and if so, under which circumstances, the knock on the roof practice may be used within the boundaries of international humanitarian law (IHL), both as a warning and as a method of warfare.
This book seeks to clarify the legal concept of proportionality in international humanitarian law, as it applies during armed conflict. It is argued in the book that a refocus of the interpretation of the proportionality rule is warranted to enhance the protection of civilians. More precisely, this book seeks to dissect the origins of the rule, determine how its components must be interpreted and how it is to be applied in practice. The book considers practical situations that may arise in the conduct of military operations and searches for the limits international humanitarian law sets to commanders' assessments of proportionality during armed conflict. The book concludes that proportionality is an inherently subjective and imprecise yardstick that nonetheless serves to protect civilians during armed conflict.
This chapter assesses the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) regulating the conduct of hostilities. To that end, a short description of the notion of targeting is provided, as well as an analysis of the interrelated IHL rules and principles of distinction, precautions in attack and proportionality.KeywordsConduct of hostilitiestargetingdistinctionprecautions in attackproportionality
Many armed conflicts rage in urban areas, where it is particularly difficult for attackers to prevail over their enemy without causing extensive civilian casualties and destruction to civilian infrastructure. This chapter aims to provide a general overview of the legal obligations of the parties to armed conflicts with regard to precautions in attack, particularly in urban and siege warfare.
Written by one of the world's leading international lawyers, this is a landmark publication in the teaching of international law. International law can be defined as 'the rules governing the legal relationship between nations and states'. However, with political, diplomatic and socio-economic factors shaping the law and its application, international law is much more complex. This refreshingly clear, concise textbook encourages students to view international law as a dynamic system of organising the world. Bringing international law back to its first principles and breathing new life and energy into the subject, the book is organised around four questions: Where does it come from? To whom does it apply? How does it resolve conflict? What does it say? This fourth edition includes references to new case-law and literature, and features (brief) discussions on recent topics of general interest, including the Ukraine invasion, global health law and energy law.
The conduct of hostilities in urban areas is inherently difficult, particularly with respect to the protection of civilians. International humanitarian law places restraints on both attackers and defenders. While much is written about the obligations of attackers with respect to protecting civilians, much less attention has been paid to the defender's obligations. These obligations are routinely referred to as “passive precautions” or “precautions against the effects of attacks” and are codified in Article 58 of Additional Protocol I to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Article 58 requires parties, “to the maximum extent feasible”, to remove civilians and civilian objects from the vicinity of military objectives, to avoid locating military objectives within or near densely populated areas, and to take other necessary precautions to protect civilians and civilian objects from the dangers resulting from military operations.
Even though they are limited by only requiring those actions which are feasible, the obligations placed on the defender are far from trivial and, if applied in good faith, would certainly provide much needed protections to civilians in armed conflict, particularly in times of urban conflict. However, this ever-increasing urbanization is creating significant pressure on the doctrine of precautions in defence, stretching the “feasibility” standard beyond its capacity to adequately protect civilians. On the other hand, the emergence of advanced technology provides a mechanism for defenders to more easily and more fully comply with their obligations to segregate or protect the civilian population.
For the customary obligation of “precautions against the effects of attacks” to maintain its effectiveness, particularly in urban areas of conflict, the understanding of feasibility and what is “practicable” in current urbanized armed conflicts will have to expand, increasing the practical responsibilities on the defender, including through the use of modern technology. Moreover, imposing criminal responsibility when appropriate and feasible precautions are not taken will rectify the perceived imbalance between the responsibilities of the attacker and those of the defender.
The concept that certain objects and persons may be legitimately attacked during armed conflicts has been well recognised and developed through the history of warfare. This book explores the relationship between international law and targeting practice in determining whether an object is a lawful military target. By examining both the interpretation and its post-ratification application this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the definition of military objective adopted in 1977 Additional Protocol I to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and its use in practice. Tackling topical issues such as the targeting of TV and radio stations or cyber targets, Agnieszka Jachec-Neale analyses the concept of military objective within the context of both modern military doctrine and the major coalition operations which have been undertaken since it was formally defined. This monograph will be of great interest to students and scholars of international law and the law of armed conflict, as well as security studies and international relations.
This chapter examines the current targeting process. It begins by defining targeting as the process of selecting and prioritizing targets and matching the appropriate response to them, considering operational requirements and capabilities. The essential elements of targeting are highlighted: a process orientation, awareness of one’s own capabilities, and, perhaps most significantly, a linkage to a specific requirement. It then defines what the targeting process is not: arbitrary, fixated on the impossible or random. Next, this chapter lays out the targeting process by examining the US and NATO deliberate processes, along with their identical F2T2EA
(Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, Assess) dynamic process. The author describes a targeting process that encompasses four steps: (1) objectives and guidance; (2) planning; (3) execution; and (4) assessment. This chapter identifies six dynamics that inform and influence the current targeting process: (1) tension between the art and science of targeting; (2) equal demands to both speed up and slow down the targeting cycle; (3) high demand for precision; (4) avoidance or at least mitigation of collateral damage; (5) non-lethal capabilities, increasingly relevant in today’s targeting; and (6) cognitive approach as the bedrock targeting principle. The author concludes by examining the future of the targeting process through the lens of robotics. As Artificial Intelligence increases, precision becomes more exact, the need for human beings in the loop lessen and greater isolation occurs from actual combat on the ground. These are unnerving possibilities that could impact targeting dynamics. For now, targeting remains focused on influence and coercion, leading one to the inescapable conclusion that targeting is a human activity. And this human activity, undertaken by humans and focused on other humans, drives the current targeting process.
The rules of international humanitarian law of armed conflict are codified in a rather extensive body of treaty law. In addition, extensive research has been conducted into the rules of customary international humanitarian law. The author of this contribution will argue that there is another important source of positive international humanitarian law: principles of international humanitarian law. In this chapter, the role of the principles of international humanitarian law, the functions they perform and their legal significance as a source of international humanitarian law will be assessed. With general public international law as its starting point, the chapter discusses the sources of international humanitarian law. It explains the important role of the Martens Clause and provides examples of how the principles of international humanitarian law may be applied in contemporary armed conflicts.
Customary International Humanitarian Law, Volume I: Rules is a comprehensive analysis of the customary rules of international humanitarian law applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts. In the absence of ratifications of important treaties in this area, this is clearly a publication of major importance, carried out at the express request of the international community. In so doing, this study identifies the common core of international humanitarian law binding on all parties to all armed conflicts.
This article presents a descriptive analysis of the precautions that are required of all belligerents in order to ensure the protection of civilian populations and objects against the effects of hostilities. The author argues that both the attacker and the defender must take precautions to avoid, or at least minimize, collateral casualties and damage. The rules imposing such precautionary measures represent clear standards of conduct. This is true even though they are worded in flexible terms to take into account the reality that mistakes or misjudgements are inevitable, and that the balance between military and humanitarian interests is not always easy to reach.
The article examines norm conflicts, defined as situations where one norm constitutes, has led to, or may lead to a breach of another, and particularly those norm conflicts in which one of the conflicting norms is a rule of human rights law. Such instances occur more and more every day, are increasingly litigated, and can be of great political importance. For example, a human rights treaty might prohibit the preventative detention or internment of persons under any circumstances, while the UN Security Council might pass a resolution actually authorizing such detention, say in relation to suspected terrorists. What does then happen when a state's obligations under a human rights treaty conflict with its obligations under the UN Charter? In that regard, one possible solution is that pursuant to Article 103 of the UN Charter, obligations under the Charter - including binding Security Council resolutions - prevail over conflicting treaty obligations of the UN member states. The article will explore whether the Council can displace international human rights treaties, and if so, how can such a development be curtailed or avoided. It will elaborate on various forms of norm conflict resolution and avoidance, and will discuss the recent jurisprudence of the House of Lords (Al-Jedda), the European Court of Human Rights (Behrami and Bosphorus) and the courts of the European Union (Kadi). The article thus provides a systematic overview of the impact of norm conflicts on the protection of human rights in a fragmented international legal order.
This chapter examines the international humanitarian law (IHL) principles of military necessity and humanity. It argues that the two principles undergird the entire body of IHL. Therefore, each individual IHL rule represents a delicate balance fashioned by States to accommodate both their legitimate need to be able to fight effectively on the battlefield and their desire to avoid unnecessary harm to combatants and the civilian population. However, the principles do not constitute norms which apply in addition to the existing rules, whether customary or conventional in nature. To interpret them in this manner would skew the balance upon which States have agreed.
States participating in the Proliferation Security Initiative, launched in 2003 to stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, have now agreed to a Statement of Interdiction Principles. Maritime interdiction operations raise questions regarding legal limits on the use of force against non-compliant vessels or in self-defense. This article examines the applicable legal limits on the use of force in maritime operations under international and U.S. law, along with relevant doctrines promulgated by the United Nations and relevant U.S. agencies.
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