Gregorio Borgia/AP/Press Association. All rights reserved.US presidential candidate Donald Trump recently added international humanitarian law to his growing list of people, places, and things he disdains and thinks America would be better off without – including the entire Muslim-American population, all women who undergo abortions, and a diverse range of public figures from Heidi Klum to Arianna Huffington. On the law of armed conflict, he stated, “The problem is we have the Geneva conventions, all sorts of rules and regulations, so [US] soldiers are afraid to fight.” These words are no surprise coming from the man who promised to “bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” at a Republican debate back in February.
Like so many of Trump’s statements, beyond the initial ludicrousness and falsehood, there is a lot of dangerous thinking – and potential for dangerous action – behind these provocations. But with his racist, misogynistic ideologies, Trump is far too easy a target for yet another social justice-minded, New York writer to simply tackle. So this piece is not about Trump. Rather, it is about the significance of humanitarian law, and its relevance for some of the world’s most marginalized and repeatedly victimized populations, one of which – Palestinian refugees fleeing Syria – I will shed light on in what follows. But first and foremost, thank you, Mr. Trump, for bringing this important issue under the political spotlight.
The notion that US soldiers are “afraid to fight” must be refuted. The supposedly ‘timid’ US military has been responsible for an estimated 10-15 million deaths worldwide since World War II’s end. The law of armed conflict has not slowed down global catastrophe from war, nor has it stymied the US’s military might. The Geneva Conventions, though often ignored by many nations since their inception in 1864, contain essential ideals for international law, and critical protections for civilians in conflict zones. Protocol I, Article 54, for example, includes key protections such as, “Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited” and, “It is prohibited to…destroy…objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as…drinking water installations”.
