Civilian


In war, civilians are people who are not members of any armed force to the conflict. It is a war crime under the law of armed conflict to deliberately target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations to minimize civilian casualties during times of war. Civilians engaging in hostilities are considered unlawful combatants, and lose their protection from attack. Under the law of armed conflict, civilians may not be targeted by virtue of their status as persons not taking up arms against an enemy).
A civilian is slightly different from a non-combatant, because some non-combatants are not civilians. Civilians in the territories of a party to an armed conflict are entitled to certain privileges under the customary laws of war and international treaties such as Geneva Convention IV. The privileges that they enjoy under international law depends on whether the conflict is a civil war or an international one.
In some nations, uniformed members of law enforcement, the fire service, or other emergency services colloquially refer to members of the public as civilians.

Etymology

The word "civilian" goes back to the late 14th century and is from Old French civilien. Civilian is believed to have been used to refer to non-combatants as early as 1829. The term "non-combatant" now refers to people in general who are not taking part of hostilities in time of war, rather than just civilians.

Legal usage in war

The International Committee of the Red Cross Commentary on 1949 Geneva Convention IV Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War states: "Every person in enemy hands must have some status under international law: he is either a prisoner of war and, as such, covered by Geneva Convention III, a civilian covered by Geneva Convention IV, or again, a member of the medical personnel of the armed forces who is covered by Geneva Convention I. There is no intermediate status; nobody in enemy hands can be outside the law. We feel that this is a satisfactory solution – not only satisfying to the mind, but also, and above all, satisfactory from the humanitarian point of view." The ICRC has expressed the opinion that "If civilians directly engage in hostilities, they are considered "unlawful" or "unprivileged" combatants or belligerents. They may be prosecuted under the domestic law of the detaining state for such action."
Article 50– of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions states that:
  1. A civilian is any person who does not belong to one of the categories of persons referred to in Article 4A,, and of the Third Convention and in Article 43 of this Protocol. In case of doubt whether a person is a civilian, that person shall be considered to be a civilian.
  2. The civilian population comprises all persons who are civilians.
  3. The presence within the civilian population of individuals who do not come within the definition of civilians does not deprive the population of its civilian character.
As legal scholar Emily Crawford states, "Given the centrality of the concept of civilian status to the law of armed conflict, it is noteworthy that civilians do not have their own discrete definition; rather, civilians are defined in the negative in relation to combatants in the treaty law of armed conflict.” The definition is negative and defines civilians as persons who do not fall in the categories of persons outlined in Article 4A,, and of Geneva Convention III and in Article 43 of Additional Protocol I. No definition of the term ‘civilian’ is contained in the Geneva Conventions of 1949 — including Geneva Convention IV, which relates to the treatment of civilians in time of armed conflict — or the Hague Regulations. The Additional Protocol I is the first IHL instrument to define the term.
The Commentary to Additional Protocol I has pointed out that anyone who is not a member of the armed forces and does not take part of hostilities in time of war is a civilian. Civilians cannot take part in armed conflict. Civilians are given protection under the Geneva Conventions and Protocols thereto. Article 50 defines civilians in international armed conflict as “all persons who are neither members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict nor participants in a levée en masse." Article 51 describes the protection that must be given to the civilian population and individual civilians.
Chapter III of Additional Protocol I regulates the targeting of civilian objects. Article 8 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court also includes this in its list of war crimes: "Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking part in hostilities". Not all states have ratified the 1977 Additional Protocol I or the 1998 Rome Statute, but it is an accepted principle of international humanitarian law that the direct targeting of civilians is a breach of the customary laws of war and is binding on all belligerents.

Civilians in modern warfare

The actual position of the civilian in modern war remains problematic. It is complicated by a number of phenomena, including:
  • The fact that many modern wars are essentially civil wars, in which the application of the laws of war is often difficult, and in which the distinction between combatants and civilians is particularly hard to maintain;
  • Guerrilla warfare and terrorism, both of which tend to involve combatants assuming the appearance of civilians;
  • The growth of doctrines of "effects-based war", under which there is less focus on attacking enemy combatants than on undermining the enemy regime's sources of power, which may include apparently civilian objects such as electrical power stations;
  • The use of "lawfare", a term that refers to attempts to discredit the enemy by making its forces appear to be in violation of the laws of war, for example by attacking civilians who had been deliberately used as human shields;
  • The term becomes ambiguous in societies that use widespread conscription, or otherwise "militarized societies," in which most adults have military training. This has been discussed with reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Starting in the 1980s, it was often claimed that 90 percent of the victims of modern wars were non-combatants. These claims, though widely believed, are not supported by detailed examination of the evidence, particularly that relating to wars that are central to the claims.
File:Wounded civilians arrive at hospital Aleppo.jpg|thumb|Wounded civilians arrive at a hospital in Aleppo during the Syrian civil war, October 2012
In the opening years of the 21st century, despite the many problems associated with it, the legal category of the civilian has been the subject of considerable attention in public discourse, in the media and at the United Nations, and in justification of certain uses of armed force to protect endangered populations. It has "lost none of its political, legal and moral salience."
Although it is often assumed that civilians are essentially passive onlookers of war, sometimes they have active roles in conflicts. These may be quasi-military, as when in November 1975 the Moroccan government organized the "green march" of civilians to cross the border into the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara to claim the territory for Morocco — all at the same time as Moroccan forces entered the territory clandestinely. In addition, and without necessarily calling into question their status as non-combatants, civilians sometimes take part in campaigns of nonviolent civil resistance as a means of opposing dictatorial rule or foreign occupation: sometimes such campaigns happen at the same time as armed conflicts or guerrilla insurrections, but they are usually distinct from them as regards both their organization and participation.
Officials directly involved in the maiming of civilians are conducting offensive combat operations and do not qualify as civilians.

Civilian protection under international humanitarian law

— also known as the laws of war or the law of armed conflict — codifies treaties and conventions, signed and enforced by participating states, which serve to protect civilians during intra and interstate conflict. Even for non-treaty participants, it is customary for international law to still apply. Additionally, IHL adheres to the principles of distinction, proportionality, and necessity; which apply to the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Although, despite the UN deploying military forces to protect civilians, it lacks formal policies or military manuals addressing exactly these efforts. The UN Security Council Report No 4: Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict provides further evidence of the need for protection of civilians.
Article 51–, and of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions dictates that:
  • 1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.
  • 2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.
  • 3. Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this Section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities. …
  • 7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.
  • 8. Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57.