On 27 January 2022, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launched a comprehensive report on explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas calling for a change in mindset by armed forces and governments. This report, based on extensive field experience and research, provides a comprehensive analysis of the issue from a humanitarian, legal, technical, and military perspective. It also contributes to promoting good-practice measures and policies that could be adopted by states and armed actors in order to avoid the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area in populated areas and to mitigate civilian harm.
As the ICRC’s report explains, “as the world urbanizes, so too do conflicts”. And, if the conflict environment has evolved through time, means and methods of warfare have not followed the same path. The means and methods of warfare initially designed for open battlefields continue to be used but in enclosed and densely populated areas, entailing tremendous consequences for civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The devastating humanitarian consequences caused by the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas are described in a detailed manner in chapter 1 of the report, which provides a comprehensive overview of the different types of effects that the civilian population can suffer from: from the direct impacts – such as physical effects and destruction of civilian objects – to the reverberating impacts which include effects such as displacement or disruption of essential services, and which affect a much more significant part of the population over an extendible period of time.
The ICRC also documents the technical characteristics of certain types of explosive weapons explaining that awareness of those elements is required to develop a comprehensive “understanding of the humanitarian consequences” of use of explosive weapons in urban and other populated areas. This chapter reports on the damage mechanisms of explosive weapons – in other words blast, fragmentation, and heat – as well as the factors determining wide area effects, such as the type of warhead, the angle of fire, the delivery system, its accuracy and precision. By studying these technical features, the ICRC comes to the conclusion that the wide area effects of the explosive weapons concerned by the report are “design-dependent and foreseeable”.
In chapter 3, the report provides a legal analysis of the use of heavy explosive weapons and its implications under international humanitarian law (IHL). First, if there is no general prohibition against targeting military objectives with heavy explosive weapons in populated areas, carrying such an attack whilst still abiding by IHL norms seems to be difficult. Using heavy explosive weapons in urban areas is likely to result in indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, and thus violate IHL principles aiming at protecting civilians. The ICRC recalls, on this occasion, the importance of complying with IHL norms in all circumstances, whether or not the enemy armed forces abide by their obligations, underscoring that compliance with IHL is not subject to reciprocity.
Chapter 4 reviews military policies and practices that the ICRC has been able to gather through time which aim to regulate the use of heavy explosive weapons and mitigate civilian harm. It examines ‘express limitations’ on the use of certain explosive weapons and mitigation measures intended to reduce the area effects, such as the use of smaller bombs in populated areas. It also scrutinizes additional tools used to inform the choice of weapons in populated areas and to minimize civilian risks, such as using collateral damage methodologies to estimate likely collateral damage, considering the weapons’ reverberating effects, and adopting ‘safety distances’. The report shows that a limited number of states implement such policies, it also mentions that “it is increasingly being acknowledged that operations in populated areas require a shift in mindset […]” to address their complex challenges.
This report not only documents civilian harm and analyses the legal and technical issues surrounding the use of EWIPA, but it also provides “good-practice” recommendations to political authorities and armed forces including practical and concrete measures to regulate the use of explosive weapons in populated areas and strengthen protection of civilians.
As such, and because it is well-documented that the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects is a major cause of civilian harm in today’s conflicts, the ICRC urges states and parties to armed conflict to adopt what it calls an “avoidance policy”. States and armed forces should avoid the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area in populated areas, “owing to the significant likelihood of indiscriminate effects”, unless “sufficient mitigation measures can be taken” to reduce risk of civilian harm.
The ICRC also addresses practical recommendations for promoting the implementation of such policy, some of them being directed at political authorities and the others being intended for armed forces, encompassing preventive measures prior to military operations, to post-attack measures. Thus, the ICRC recommends, amongst other things, that protection of civilians is explicitly identified as a strategic objective at the highest level; that military doctrine is developed or adapted to address the humanitarian concerns and challenges posed by the conduct of hostilities in populated areas; that armed forces are appropriately equipped and trained; that transparency and exchange of good practices are promoted and national mechanisms to collect data are implemented.
By providing such comprehensive report on this issue, the ICRC contributes to the current reflection and discussion led by Ireland on explosive weapons in populated areas and its efforts in concluding agreement on a political declaration.
Likewise, on 27 January 2022, an interactive panel discussion was convened by the ICRC to launch its new report and to further the discussion. On this occasion, several panelists were invited to take the floor, including:
- Introduction to the report by Peter Maurer, ICRC President
- Message by Izumi Nakamitsu, United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs
- Interactive panel discussion:
- E. Ambassador Lucy Duncan, Permanent Representative of New Zealand to the United Nations in Geneva
- Laura Boillot, Coordinator of the International Network on Explosive Weapons
- Fabrizzio Carboni, ICRC Regional Director for the Near and Middle East
- Moderated by Dr Helen Durham, ICRC Director of Law and Policy
ICRC report on “Explosive Weapons with Wide Area Effects: A Deadly Choice in Populated Areas”: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/civilians-protected-against-explosive-weapons