Could America fight its enemies without breaking the law?
The speed and intensity of prospective conflicts could test the laws of war
GLOOM WILL accompany the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions next month. Debates rage as to whether this batch of treaties, which govern how wars may be fought, and later protocols, which ban genocide, torture and more, remain fit for purpose. The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has warned of “increasing elasticity” in how countries apply the laws of war, which the conventions underpin.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “No more the laws of war?”
From the July 20th 2024 edition
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Vladimir Putin’s spies are plotting global chaos
Russia is enacting a revolutionary plan of sabotage, arson and assassination
Over a billion have voted in 2024: has democracy won?
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The rulers of China, Iran, North Korea and Russia are growing worryingly close
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And why governments want to wrest back control