Identifying Violations Exploration 3A Ms. Ripley

What rule was Violated and Why? n Voices from War n What are the basic rules of IHL? n Chart looking at which rule was violated

Voices from War

What Rule was Violated?

Basic Rules of IHL

How one violation leads to another n Find statements that show a link between one violation and another that follows as a consequence. n How could violations that you have identified lead to other violations? n Report your chains of consequences of violations to the class.

An officer serving in an occupied area n As a young officer, when I had just finished the officer course, I was walking down a street. It was some holiday. We were five soldiers just looking around to see if everything was cool. And then in a matter of minutes we were surrounded by maybe four or five thousand people who started throwing stones.

An officer serving in an occupied area n They were all very angry because someone had got hurt in a refugee camp. It was truly a danger to life because everyone was excited, and I had to think about how to get my soldiers out of there. I only had my gun and real bullets and I had to get my soldiers out of there so I shot, I shot down to the legs, but I shot ten, twelve times, to get myself out of there, and I got out of it.

Victim of IHL violations n Why do soldiers attack civilians even when they know it is wrong? They were probably told something or promised something big. They have been stimulated to do more evil. So they do not think much. What I do not understand is what happened to their human mind.

Can we limit future violations n Choose one kind of violation to work on as a group. n Suggest ways to limit the violation. n What consequences is each suggestion likely to have? What in turn, would each of those consequences lead to? n Do you think that most nations would agree to the suggestions? Why or why not? How would they be monitored? n Can you think of examples from the news of violations escalating?

Key Ideas n The rules of IHL are designed specifically for situations of armed conflict. n Violations often lead to chain reaction of further violations n People give a variety of reasons for violations sometimes taking place. Such reasons include revenge, combat in residential areas, thinking civilians are aiding the enemy, illegal orders from superiors, etc.

Extension Activity Communication n Write a joint paper about the violotion the group chose in step 3 (can we limit future violations?) and the ways that you will propose to limit violations in the future. Or make drawings to illustrate the violation. Or make posters to promote the proposals. Contribute the work to the EHL page on

Chains of Consequences n Select a violation and make a diagram of the chains of consequences that the violation could lead to. Some consequences may lead to multiple chains of consequences. Thus a web of chains develops.

Debate: A just law that is often broken is better than no law at all. n How to do this: n Break into teams (2 debate teams and a judging team) n Teams should review their notes and any other useful resource. n Each team should plan the following: n A five min presentation, n Point that you think the other team will make against your position n Their responses to the points Considerations could include: the effect of often disrespecting laws, examples of laws other than IHL that are often broken yet valued, history of acceptance of laws over time, the value of a law as an ideal, what alternatives other than law exist. n During the planning time, the judging team should work out the criteria for judging the debate.

Debate n Questions n How do you think this debate applies to IHL? n Are there other examples of laws that are valued even though they are often broken?