Multiple bodies of international law ban the use of starvation as a weapon of war. Under the Rome Statute, it’s a war crime. #iran #sanctions
Art 8 ICC: “[i]ntentionally using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare by depriving them of objects indispensable to their survival, including wilfully impeding relief supplies ...” constitutes a war crime in international armed conflicts.
Geneva Conventions Article 54(1) of the 1977 Additional Protocol I provides: “Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.”
Additional Protocol II
Article 14 of the 1977 Additional Protocol II provides: “Starvation of civilians as a method of combat is prohibited.”
Article 14 of the 1977 Additional Protocol II provides: “Starvation of civilians as a method of combat is prohibited.”
Annotated Supp. to the US Naval Handbook (1997):
Art. 54(1) [of the 1977 Addl Protocol I] would create a new prohibition on the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare … which the United States believes should be observed and in due course recognized as customary law.
Art. 54(1) [of the 1977 Addl Protocol I] would create a new prohibition on the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare … which the United States believes should be observed and in due course recognized as customary law.
“According to the Report on US Practice, it is the opinio juris of the United States that the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited.”
Sanctions are not the same as conventional warfare, but the ban on starvation is the same. You can’t intend to starve a civilian population in order to achieve a political goal. It would also be unlawful collective punishment.
