Following the recent bombing and shelling
of Grozny and other parts of Chechnya in
an attempt to quell the resistance there
to Russian authority, Russia has urged residents
of Grozny to leave the city or face loss
of life and property in Russia's "counter-terrorism
operation." (New York Times translation
of leaflets dropped on Grozny on December
6.) It has been reported that some civilian
residents are too elderly, sick or injured
to leave the city. The current Russian operation
is aimed at defeating the remaining Chechnyan
resistance forces in the city.
Russia is a party (called a "High Contracting
Party") to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions
on the law of war and to Protocol II to
those Conventions. Common Article 3 of the
four Geneva Conventions and Protocol II
deal with protection of victims of non-international
armed conflicts. The conflict in Chechnya
is non-international, since Chechnya is
a part of Russia and there appears to be
no significant participation in the conflict
from sources outside Russia.
Common Article 3 provides in part:
In the case of armed conflict not of
an international character occurring in
the territory of one of the High Contracting
Parties, each Party to the conflict shall
be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following
provisions:
(1) Persons taking no active part in
the hostilities, including members of armed
forces who have laid down their arms and
those placed hors de combat by sickness,
wounds, detention, or any other cause, shall
in all circumstances be treated humanely,
without any adverse distinction founded
on race, colour, religion or faith, sex,
birth or wealth, or any other similar criteria.
To this end, the following acts are and
shall remain prohibited at any time and
in any place whatsoever with respect to
the above-mentioned persons:
(a) violence to life and person, in
particular murder of all kinds, mutilation,
cruel treatment and torture; * * *
(c) outrages upon personal dignity,
in particular humiliating and degrading
treatment; * * * .
(2) The wounded and sick shall be collected
and cared for.
Protocol II, which supplements Article
3, applies "to all armed conflicts which
are not covered by [Article 1 of Protocol
I]* and which take place in the territory
of a High Contracting Party between its
armed forces and dissident armed forces
or other organized armed groups which, under
responsible command, exercise such control
over a part of its territory as to enable
them to carry out sustained and concerted
military operations and to implement this
Protocol." It does not apply "to situations
of internal disturbances and tensions, such
as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of
violence and other acts of a similar nature,
as not being armed conflicts." (Article
1 of Protocol II.)
Article 4(2) of Protocol II is similar
to common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions,
but it adds some prohibitions-including
a prohibition against collective punishments
and one against acts of terrorism. Other
provisions include:
Article 7
1. All the wounded, sick and shipwrecked,
whether or not they have taken part in the
armed conflict, shall be respected and protected.
2. In all circumstances they shall be
treated humanely and shall receive, to the
fullest extent practicable and with the
least possible delay, the medical care and
attention required by their condition. There
shall be no distinction among them founded
on any grounds other than medical ones.
Article 13
1. The civilian population and individual
civilians shall enjoy general protection against
the dangers arising from military operations.
To give effect to this protection, the following
rules shall be observed in all circumstances.
2. 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.
3. Civilians shall enjoy the protection
afforded by this Part, unless and for such
time as they take a direct part in hostilities.
Article 17
1. The displacement of the civilian population
shall not be ordered for reasons related to
the conflict unless the security of the civilians
involved or imperative military reasons so
demand. Should such displacements have to
be carried out, all possible measures shall
be taken in order that the civilian population
may be received under satisfactory conditions
of shelter, hygiene, health, safety and nutrition.
2. Civilians shall not be compelled to
leave their own territory for reasons connected
with the conflict.
It is not always clear to what extent
these provisions have been violated or may
in the future be violated. For example,
the killing of civilians in wartime is not
murder if the primary target is a military
one and the civilian harm is unintended.
Shelling of civilian areas does not necessarily
amount to an outrage upon personal dignity,
depending upon whether or not particular
civilians or groups of civilians may be
taking a direct part in hostilities. Article
17(2) clearly prohibits deportation or forced
expulsion of civilians from their own country;
it is less clear whether it prohibits deportation
or forced expulsion of civilians from their
territory within a country to another territory
within the same country-as would be the
case if Chechens are forced to leave Chechnya
for Ingushetia.
Even though these uncertainties exist,
the treaty provisions set out above provide
the standards under international humanitarian
law for assessing the Russian assault on
Grozny.
Endnotes:
*Article 1 of Protocol 1 applies
to international armed conflicts, including
those in which "peoples are fighting against
colonial domination and alien occupation and
against racist régimes in the exercise
of their right of self-determination."
About the Author:
Frederic L. Kirgis is Law School Association
Alumni Professor at Washington and Lee University
School of Law. He has written a book and several
articles on United Nations law, and is a member
of the Board of Editors of the American Journal
of International Law.
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