5 - Individual Criminal Responsibility for Violations of the Law of Targeting

Summary

This chapter contemplates the possibility of enforcing the responsibility of individuals with regard to violations of the principles of lawful targeting. It foregoes re-stating the general principles that govern the individual responsibility for war crimes, in favour of strictly addressing the responsibility for unlawful attacks during armed conflict. Two issues are discussed separately. The first one is the norms that criminalize attacks against persons not directly involved in hostilities and against civilian objects. It is verified whether each violation of IHL as regards targeting results in criminal responsibility. The second issue is responsibility strictly for the participation in hostilities, because in several states there have been attempts to criminalize this as a type of war crime. Moreover, punishability of such participation offers a good illustration of the differences in treatment of those on the state and the non-state side of armed conflict.