International humanitarian law is at risk but it still carries weight | Kenneth Roth

"Is international humanitarian law (IHL), the law designed to spare civilians as much as possible the hazards of warfare, at risk of imploding? That is the conclusion of a new compendious study of current armed conflicts around the world, citing the killing of civilians and other atrocities in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and elsewhere. While the threat to IHL is not yet existential, it warns, it is at a critical breaking point."

"Let's consider an analogy: when an ordinary murder is committed on a city street, is that a serious crime or a license to kill? If the authorities investigate, arrest, and prosecute the suspect, we consider the murder an unfortunate offense but don't question the status of the law against it. But if the authorities were to ignore the killing, suggesting that they are just as happy to be rid of the victim, it would be another matter entirely."

"Take Gaza. There is no denying that the government of Benjamin Netanyahu has ripped up the Geneva conventions and their protocols the main codification of IHL. The Israeli military has indiscriminately bombed neighborhoods, attacked military targets when it knew the civilian toll would be disproportionate, deliberately fired on civilians, and deprived civilians of food and other necessities. Yet the international response has hardly been a shrug."

International humanitarian law faces a critical breaking point as civilian killings and atrocities have increased in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, and elsewhere. Disregard for civilian life has been horrendous and in Gaza and Sudan has risen to the level of genocide. The persistence of IHL depends on whether violations provoke enforcement or indifference. When authorities investigate, arrest, and prosecute, the law endures; when authorities ignore killings, the law risks collapse. Global responses have been mixed and weaker than ideal but still considerable, making it premature to declare IHL dead. In Gaza, clear violations prompted widespread condemnations despite Security Council paralysis.

Read at www.theguardian.com