| Description |
In time of war a common cry of one nation about the other is that "they don't respect human life like we do." This cry accuses the other nation of violating the rules of war, and, in particular, committing atrocities against civilians. Too often such accusations are propaganda ploys. They are made against an enemy nation, and in many cases the same actions committed by an ally are ignored or explained as being due to difficult situations. The human rights violations of enemy nations are occasionally used as a justification for going to war against them. Once this war, supposedly fought on behalf of civilians, is begun, military generals and political leaders suddenly have amnesia about the importance of not harming civilians. Bombs are dropped from altitudes so high that heavy civilian casualties are inevitable. Parts of the infrastructure, such as water supplies, which are more essential for civilians than for soldiers, are targeted. Civilian casualties rival the military casualties and with increasing frequency surpass it. The scream of "human rights!" and "Violations of Rules of;War!" may be used not only to justify going to war, but may also be used as a license to violate the same human rights regulations which the enemy is accused of ignoring. However this is' obviously not the intent of such regulations. It is inconsistent for a nation to cry over the death of a thousand civilians which were killed by its enemy, and then kill hundreds of thousands itself in the name of discouraging the; attack of civilians. In this paper I will attempt to address what I consider to be at the root of this inconsistency. I will discuss some of the origins of the rules of war and the privileged status of civilians. I will then explain what reasons are given in favor of removing civilians from a special class which should not be harmed in war. Finally I will conclude by suggesting ways to treat civilians which would be more consistent. I will suggest that either we need to change our military actions in order to avoid killing civilians directly or indirectly, or we need to cease complaining about civilian casualties inflicted by others. |
