International Humanitarian Law a Decade after September 11: Developments and Perspectives

Extract

The invitation to join this symposium provides an opportunity for critically reviewing opinions I had expressed years ago, in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Emphasizing the need for strict compliance with international humanitarian law, human rights law, national constitutional law and rules of due process, in order to convincingly meet the challenge terrorism poses to democratic societies, I had called for a culture of compliance in which incentives for faithful implementation of humanitarian law should be developed to make the expectation of reciprocity a realistic possibility rather than contemplating restraints of humanitarian protection and derogations of human rights. Developments went in a different direction: the world has witnessed an unlimited practice of operational detentions; habeas corpus was, and still is, denied in military operations; and prisoners have been tortured as part of deliberately planned activities. At the same time organized terrorist movements continue to plan and execute attacks while hiding among civilian populations; the number of suicide attacks has increased rather than decreased; and distinctive emblems protected under the Geneva Conventions are deliberately targeted by Taliban fighters.