Human shield

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Human shield is a military and political term describing the presence of civilians in or around combat targets to deter an enemy from attacking those targets. It may also be used to describe the use of civilians to literally shield combatants during attacks, by forcing the civilians to march in front of the soldiers during human wave attacks. Using this technique increases the civilian casualty rate and is illegal in any nation that is party to the Fourth Geneva Convention.

1 Tactic in war
2 Tactic in peace campaigning
3 Other uses
4 See also
5 External links
6 Notes

[edit] Tactic in war

The term human shield can also be used collectively where the shield is not an individual but the whole population. In this case, one party in a conflict intentionally positions its military assets amongst a civilian population or close to civilian facilities such as hospitals or schools in the hope that the other party will be reluctant to attack them. Furthermore, if the other party attacks these targets anyway, the resulting civilian casualties have propaganda value.

International law considers the use of human shields to protect targets a war crime. The Fourth Geneva Convention forbids the use of any civilian as a shield: "The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations." (Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, August 12, 1949, 6 U.S.T. 3516, 75 U.N.T.S. 287, art. 28).

[edit] Iraq

The most famous use of human shields occurred in Iraq in 1990, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in advance of the first Gulf War. Saddam Hussein's government detained hundreds of Western citizens who were visiting or living in Iraq to try to deter nations from participating in military operations against the country. A number of these hostages were filmed meeting Saddam, and kept with him to deter any targeted attacks, whilst others were held in or near military and industrial targets. Whilst the UN debated its response to the invasion of Kuwait, several international statesmen and peace campaigners visited Iraq to try to secure the release of the human shields, many returning with around 10 or 12 each time.

[edit] Israel

November 18, 2006, after the IDF warned of an air strike, hundreds of Palestinians formed a human shield around the home of Mohammed Weil Baroud, a resistance leader responsible for firing Kassam rockets at Israel. Israel had called Baroud and warned him to evacuate the building; a standard procedure Israel uses to minimize civilian casualties. Israel suspended the airstrike because women and children gathered outside.<ref> http://jerusalempost.com, http://english.aljazeera.net</ref> In response to the Israel's reaction members of the Palestinian community said: "We have won, from now on we will form human chains around every house that is threatened with demolition." <ref> Gaza: Use of Human Shields Continues</ref>

Human Rights Watch has reported that the Israeli Defense Forces used in a rare case one Palestinian civilian as a human shield during the Battle of Jenin 2002 but barred the use right after. <ref name="HRW1">Human Shielding and the Use of Civilians for Military Purposes - Chapter VII of HRW report called "Jenin: IDF Military Operations." - May 2002</ref> The practice was subsequently outlawed by the Israeli Supreme Court but Human Rights Watch claims the IDF continues to practice it.<ref name="HRW1">Human Shielding and the Use of Civilians for Military Purposes - Chapter VII of HRW report called "Jenin: IDF Military Operations." - May 2002</ref>

The Palestinian practice of using women and children as human shields is more prevalent. It was notoriously seen in Beit Hanoun (2006) when used by Hamas terrorists to aid their escape. <ref>http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-ex-mideast3nov04,0,2270037.story?coll=la-home-headlines Women acting as human shields aid escape of Palestinian militants Los Angeles Times, CA - November 3, 2006.</ref> A crowd of women gathered outside a mosque after an appeal by the local radio for women to come and act as human shields to help Palestinian gunmen flee an Israeli siege on the mosque where they were hiding. The armed men escaped dressed in women's clothes.

[edit] Lebanon, West Bank & Gaza Strip

The Israeli Defense Forces and an Australian journalist, Chris Link, have documented and photographed incidents where they claim Hezbollah and Hamas used civilians as human shields to prevent the IDF from firing at gunmen and rocket launchers. <ref>Photos that damn Hezbollah - Herald Sun. July 30, 2006. Chris Link</ref> <ref>Hamas Murders Children in Palestine - FrontPageMag.com, June 13, 2006. "An Israel Defense Forces intelligence officer has confirmed that the explosion that killed eight Palestinians on Friday, was caused by a stockpile of Hamas explosives"</ref> Human Rights Watch has conducted their own investigation which reported "Human Rights Watch found no cases in which Hezbollah deliberately used civilians as shields to protect them from retaliatory IDF attack. Hezbollah occasionally did store weapons in or near civilian homes and fighters placed rocket launchers within populated areas or near U.N. observers, which are serious violations of the laws of war because they violate the duty to take all feasible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. " <ref>Fatal Strikes Israel’s Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon - Human Rights Watch. August 2006</ref> Hezbollah has also used civilian homes in Lebanon as sites for rocket launchers. <ref>Deadly Hezbollah chess match</ref> The is also evidence that Hezbollah operated from bunkers constructed underneath hospitals and mosques.

Retired Major-General Lewis MacKenzie, former commander of U.N. troops in Bosnia, has interpreted a letter by a Canadian United Nations observer killed by the Israeli shelling of the UN position as saying that Hezbollah had used United Nations peacekeepers as human shields.<ref>Hezbollah was using UN post as 'shield' Canadian wrote of militia's presence, 'necessity' of bombing - Canada.com.July 27, 2006</ref><ref>Annan's Claims On Casualties May Unravel - New York Sun. July 27, 2006</ref>

[edit] United Kingdom

When Oliver Cromwell's army arrived in Ireland in 1649, the English soldiers were unable to gain access to some well defended areas, so the English took the infants and toddlers from the Irish villages and used them as literal shields. <ref>SCOT-WHEELER, James, "Cromwell in Ireland", New York 1999</ref>

[edit] Tactic in peace campaigning

In recent times civilian volunteers have attempted to use this tactic to prevent military conflict. Anti-war groups organised human shield action to Iraq in advance of the 2003 invasion. However, they abandoned their mission when they realized they might be in harm's way.

Rachel Corrie and Thomas Hurndall, Western International Solidarity Movement volunteers in the Palestinian territories, who died in March and April 2003 while trying to disrupt IDF operations in the Gaza Strip, have been described as trying to act as human shields. Some ISM volunteers strongly object to the use of the term human shield to describe their work.

[edit] Other uses

Some lesser used instances of human shields include literally using a human as a physical barrier against bullets or taking advantage of the opposing gun's lack of over penetration as a means of creating a shield. Some bullets expand when the temperature around them rises, this increases the amount of tissue damage inflicted. The same is true for hollow point bullets which mushroom when entering living tissue. However, both of these types sometimes prevent the bullet from piercing right through the victim; this leaves anything directly behind them safe from oncoming fire.

Human shields have also been used in videogames like Splinter Cell and Hitman: Blood Money in which the player is able to grab civilians and enemies from behind and use them as a human shield. While controversial in Splinter Cell, the Metal Gear Solid series also allows grabbing enemies for use as human shields, with less notoriety.