I am interested but uninformed in this area, so I am wondering if there are rules in warfare. For Example, I am considering scenarios such as prohibiting the bombing of civilian structures.
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There are international treaties that govern the way wars should be conducted, e.g. Geneva conventions.
Yes, there are a lot of rules governing the conduct of war. They cover such things as treatment of civilians and POWs, property crimes such as pillaging, deportations and population transfers, disallowed weapon types, and much more. You can read more [in this wiki article on the Geneva Convention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Geneva_Convention#).
One thing to bear in mind is that there is no authority that is tasked with enforcing these rules. If a country is violating the laws of warfare, there is no police force that can bring them to justice. There are international organizations like the ICC which can try, but fundamentally the war must be won or lost first.
There are an assorment of international treaties prohibiting things. Mainly summarized as
* Dont attack or endanger non combantants
* Dont attack religious structures
* Dont use weapons designed to long-term disable (but not kill) opponents, or cause excessive pain
* Dont try to pretend your not fighting if you actually are
* Dont try to force your opponent to commit war crimes
* Be nice to any prisoners.
here are a few good youtube videos looking at warcrimes in the context of popular games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v_nOFPTbmE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcckHAYCxGk&pp=ygUVZ2FtZSB0aGVvcnkgd2FyIGNyaW1l
Geneva convention. There’s a lot of rules.
Nobody can enforce it, so it more or less boils down to ‘don’t use unnecessary force on me or my citizens, and I will do the same”
War is terrible, but they at least try to make it less torturous in some ways. Some big ones are no flamethrowers and no nerve gas, and no reckless civilian harm, and avoiding killing medical teams. Also not purposely killing press members.
You don’t want your own troops subject to this, so you wouldn’t do it to the other side.
yes, there are multiple laws in war. the most famous one is “dont shoot hospitals” and “dont deliberately target civilians”, those are some of the reason why the term “war crime” exist
as how they enforce it? it’s really hard. deciding someone is a war criminal and prosecuting them are whole different matter.
when they prosecute war criminals, it goes just like regular trial.
who enforced them? usually the ICC and a third party neutral country
“All is fair in love and war”
Each country has their own “rules of engagement” describing how to respond to a threat.
Different situation and scenarios are revised with mission objectives.
International treaties like the famous Geneva Convention TRY to set general “rules” to protect civilians and soldiers, but those rules are not enforceable, can only be used to make a case in an eventual “war crimes” court (again, enforced by whom?)
To get an idea of the different rules of engagment think of a enemy soldier in a building. Do you flatten the building immediatly? do you check for civilians first? Do you send people to capture or kill? Do you wait untill he’s outin the open? etc.etc
Ethics and war are not two easy subjects.
Besides the convention there is tons of agreements nations have signed or not. Like usage of dispersion bombing and so on
In addition to what also has been said: Field hospitals used to take care of military personnel are still hospitals, so they should be off limits. A field medic is also somewhat protected in rules of war so aiming and shooting them is generally considered a dick move.
Also a wounded fighter, enemy or not, should be given first aid and delivered to hospital within possibilities. Executing a wounded enemy who has laid down their arms is also illegal.
“Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.”
In theory there are rules that countries have agreed to follow, but in practice nobody actually follows them. The rules are only ever used as an excuse to jail/executive the top political and military leaders of the losing country.
Modern wars are like a boxing match — there are weight classes and there are rules, but the referee is in the Netherlands and if you break the rules or fight someone you shouldn’t, the ref has to get someone else to beat you in another fight or haul you in after you’ve lost anyway.
The rest of the world can try to hurt your boxing career financially or politically if they disagree with how you fought.
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