Can humanitarian aid be used to perpetrate a war crime?
By definition: no. But an over instrumentalisation of it would then oblige to consider humanitarian aid, even conducted by civilians, as a military actions. Then it may become a war crime by access denial. Denying humanitarian aid to access may allow war crimes to happen. Then it is a military responsibility and the whole military chain of command that has to be examined. From the private that did not let humanitarian aid enter to the Chief of the Armies and the whole government that gave the orders and signed them.
But could humanitarian actors perpetrate a war crime? The answer is the less clear. The example given by Tom of MSF redraw from Goma while 4000 people were dying per day could be interpreted as such if they were the only one present. The non assistance of ICRC to war prisoners and civilian in concentration camps during WWII could be seen as such as they were the only one to access. The too often negation of his responsibility inside ICRC nowadays is not only due to the shame that comes from his non action. At that time being anti-Semite was well accepted into Swiss high bourgeoisie and intellectual circles.
There again we are stuck in the definition of direct involvement of the chain of command.
In a "build" perspective of counter insurgency, this has to be looked at twice.
An unequal access to aid would lead to a war crime if massive number of civilians, especially "innocent" ones dies from it. The use of food and medicine embargo is still proscribed (had for Good reasons). But still we end up in the problematic of independence of humanitarian aid which, part from ICRC and MSF, is a joke.
Therefore humanitarian actors do have a responsibility, which is quite equivalent as the one of military, in distributing or not access to aid.
The ground guy executes orders from intermediate officer with the difference that he does not have the responsibility to not apply the order or redirect the aid. At the contrary of a soldier that has the responsibility to not apply illegal order.
As in the military, intermediate humanitarian officer will then deny his responsibility in putting the blame on the donors whom do have a political agenda.
But there also NGO do have, in the best case, social agendas with political goals and objectives…
Then the question is no more rhetorical and can/needs to be addressed.
Could humanitarian aid or actors being involved with direct responsibilities in a war crime?
PS: Rome Status are the best definition I have found up to now and whit which I agree 100%. Like said Abu, if we all met, we would have a 99,999% agreement on what is a war crime definition and fight with details for the pleasure of a good rhetorical talk.
A Humanitarian war crime to come?
From Reliefweb. Nothing to add.
Quote:
Sudan revokes licenses of 26 aid groups in Darfur, warns dozen others
Friday 22 January 2010
January 21, 2010 (KHARTOUM) –The Sudanese government announced today that it has revoked the licenses of 26 relief groups operating in Darfur while warning 13 others that they must conform to the country’s laws within 30 days or face the same fate.
Sudan official news agency (SUNA) carried a decree by the government’s registrar for the of Voluntary and Charitable Organizations Ahmed Mohamed Adam saying that the decision was taken in line with the laws governing the work of aid groups in addition to agreements between the government of Sudan and these organizations.
The determination also came upon a review of the reports submitted by the assessment teams of the specialized technical departments of the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), the decree said.
The following groups have their licenses cancelled according to the decree; 1- Prospect Sudan 2- Counterpart International 3- Feed the Children 4- Food for the Hungry 5- Safe Harbor 6- The Halo Trust 7- Right to Play 8- Air Serve 9- Mercy International 10- Global Peace Mission 11- Population Media Centre 12- Sudanese International Development and Relief Association (SIDRA) 13- Royal Dutch Aid 14- Canadian Association for African Development 15- SPEG- Holland 16- Norwegian League for Disabled 17- African Association for Development 18- Health Assistance for Children (HAFC) 19- Nabata Charitable Foundation 20- Impact 21- Cins- Italy 22- Ulfa Aid 23- Joint Projects Organization 24- Arabic Centre for Immigrant Labors 25- Tomp/Germany 26- Human Relief and Peace.
According to Adam, the abovementioned groups “have not carried out any activities” and failed to renew their annual permits or submit required reports.
The second set of organizations received an unspecified warning to adjust status in accordance with the law but no details were furnished. They include Stromme Foundation 2. Veterinaraires Sans Forntieres- Germany 3. Planned Parenthood 4. (International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Area(ICARDA 5. Deniz Feneri 6. International Blue Crescent Relief 7. Handicap International 8. (Education Action International (Former was University Services Org 9. Movimondo 10. Sudanese Mothers for Peace 11. Panos Sudan 12. Eritrean Islamic Relief 13. One Earth.
In a related development a study made by Belgian scientists published in The Lancet medical journal said that the overwhelming majority of deaths in Darfur can be attributed to diseases such as diarrhea.
According to Reuters, the researchers said their results showed that any reduction in humanitarian aid can cause deaths rates to increase sharply.
Last year, the Sudanese president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir ordered more than a dozen aid groups out of Darfur after his indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
“Adequate humanitarian assistance to prevent and treat these potentially fatal diseases is essential," Degomme and Guha-Sapir wrote. "The full effect of the expulsion of non-governmental organizations from Darfur is still not known, but the increased mortality rate during a period of reduced humanitarian deployment in 2006 suggests that we should fear the worst”.
"More than 80 percent of excess deaths were not a result of the violence," said Olivier Degomme and Debarati Guha-Sapir of the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of disasters in Brussels.
They said a violent peak in early 2004 was followed by "protracted phase of increased disease-related" deaths caused by people living in conditions of unsanitary conditions with little or no healthcare infrastructure.
The United Nations experts say at least 300,000 people have died from the combined effects of war, famine and disease in Darfur, and that some 2.7 million are displaced by the seven year conflict.
(ST)
:eek::mad::eek: