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Reappraising Reprisals Against Enemy Civilians in Customary International Humanitarian Law

Moir, Lindsay

Authors



Abstract

Belligerent reprisals are a controversial and largely discredited mechanism for the enforcement of international humanitarian law. Additional Protocol I of 1977 prohibits a range of reprisal activity, including reprisals against enemy civilians. A (relatively small) number of States are not Parties to Additional Protocol I, whilst some States Parties have made declarations and/or reservations to the Protocol which could be seen as attempts to limit the operation of the prohibition. Its status as a rule of customary international law is therefore an important question. This article argues that opposition to the prohibition in customary law is neither as widespread nor consistent as has previously been suggested and that the weight of evidence points towards the existence (or development) of a customary prohibition. Consistent opposition by the UK and the US, however, makes it unlikely that the customary prohibition would be opposable to those particular States.

Citation

Moir, L. (2024). Reappraising Reprisals Against Enemy Civilians in Customary International Humanitarian Law. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 15(2), https://doi.org/10.1163/18781527-bja10095

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 28, 2024
Online Publication Date Apr 29, 2024
Publication Date 2024
Deposit Date Mar 28, 2024
Publicly Available Date Apr 29, 2024
Journal Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies
Print ISSN 1878-1373
Electronic ISSN 1878-1527
Publisher Brill Academic Publishers
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 15
Issue 2
DOI https://doi.org/10.1163/18781527-bja10095
Keywords Belligerent reprisals — international humanitarian law — civilian protection — customary international law
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4614130
Publisher URL Advance artices: https://brill.com/view/journals/ihls/aop/issue.xml