The Death of Civilians During War Essay Example

As American president Theodore Roosevelt once stated, “Justice consists not in being neutral between right and wrong, but finding out the right and upholding it, wherever found, against the wrong.” Just war theory states that civilians should not be targeted and their deaths will only be justified if they were unavoidable and sustained through a military attack. Soldiers and countries should not be targeting innocent civilians in a war. Civilians are not involved in war but governments and soldiers are involved. War crimes although hard to define, due to the definition changing, can best be described by the the Geneva Convention as horrific acts done to people or property, murder of civilians, murder of Prisoners of War (POW), etc. In 2002, The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established in Rome, Italy. The ICC is responsible for investigating and trying individuals accused of war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression. The international powers protecting civilians during war time is of critical importance today as it was in the 1940s.  Thus, civilians should not be targeted or unreasonably stripped of their rights during a time of war. 

The Nuremberg Trial was the first international war crime trial. The Allied Forces came together to hold the Natzis accountable for their war crimes in WWII. There were many war crimes committed by the Natzis in WWII these include “crimes against humanity, crimes against the Jewish people and war crimes.” () The people that committed these horrific acts needed to be brought to justice. Thus the Nuremberg Trials were considered a milestone in judicial history. As Marrus states “The trial of major German war criminals at Nuremberg was considered the greatest trial in military history. Though the trial was imperfect, justice did prevail” (Marrus). The Nuremberg trial brought justice to those that deserved it and overall 199 people were tried and 161 were convicted.

Henry Dunant experienced the trauma of war first hand. He recounts the lack of aid and facilities in the Battle of Solferino. After witnessing these acts of horror, Dunant proposed ideals for aid in a time of war. These ideals led to the development of the first Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions is a set of treaties and protocols that set the standard for legal and humane international war. The Geneva conventions were “Ratified 66 years ago on August 12, 1949, in Geneva, Switzerland, by 195 countries, including United Nations member-states, the Vatican, and Cook Islands…”() The Geneva Conventions work to protect soldiers, prisoners of war (POWs), and civilians during times of war. There are four major parts to the Geneva Convention these include the convention for helping wounded and sick soldiers on land, conventions for helping wounded and sick soldiers at sea, convention for the treatment of prisoners of war, and the convention to protect civilians during war. (Shaw)The conventions allow for soldiers that are wounded to be helped. It makes sure that prisoners of war are not being deprived of their needs and are being given enough rations, they are not to be treated inhumane ways. The last convention shows that civilians should not be harmed in anyway, this includes “taking of hostages, torture, collective punishment, offenses that constitute”(Shaw). Thus the Geneva convention allows for justice to be given to the wounded, captured, and civilians during a time of war. 

This relates to the current situation happening between Russia and Ukraine. Russian president, Vladimir Putin started his attack on Ukraine in Belarus on the 10th of February.  Putin ordered the Ukraians to surrender for peace. The conflict has left 14,000 people dead 3,000 of those being civilians. The Ukrainans civilians should expect justice from the government and don't deserve to be involved in war. In Bucha, a city in Ukraine in which Russian soldiers have recently withdrawn from. When Ukrainian forces reached Bucha they were met with hundreds of dead bodies from innocent Ukrainian citizens.  Joel Gunter, BBC reported on the  topic as he interviewed a Bucha victim’s girlfriend:

The Russians had assaulted the apartment building and blasted their way into every apartment with a shotgun, ''she said, demanding people hand over their SIM cards and keys. They interrogated her and Vitaliy in separate rooms, beat them, and shot their dog, she said. Then they took her down to the basement with a group of other residents and bolted the door, but took Vitaliy away separately and told her she wouldn't see him again, and she didn't (Gunter).

This article taken from BBC news shows the horrors and atrocities that are being committed in Ukraine. Although it's not massive enough to be a war crime it could be brought showing potential evidence for war crimes Russia has committed against Ukraine civilians. 

Although the death of civilians is horrendous, they can be justified. This is best shown through the US attack on Japan towards the end of WWII. On August 6th and 9th in 1945 atomic bombs were dropped on both hiroshima and nagasaki. This led to the death of over 150,000 civilians (“Barret”).  This attack is considered justified as the killings of the bombs led to the japanese surrenduring during during WWII saving countless of lives. It is believed that if there was a land invasion or if the war permissed that more lives would have been lost, thus justifying the US actions for the deaths of civilians.