War crimes by unconventional weapons
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This article lists and summarizes the war crimes of countries that have violated the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), often through the use of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), a term used for unconventional weapons.
Chemical war crime[edit]
Chemical warfare (CW) involves using the toxic properties of chemicals as weapons, which is prohibited under customary international humanitarian law.[1] CW agents are extremely toxic synthetic chemicals that can be dispersed as a gas, liquid, or aerosol or as agents adsorbed to particles to become a powder.[2]
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Football team of British soldiers with gas masks, Western front, 1916
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Victims of Halabja chemical bombing
Use in World War I[edit]
Chlorine, phosgene, and mustard gas were the three substances responsible for most of the injuries and deaths caused by chemical weapons during World War I.
Chlorine is a strong irritant that can harm the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. In high concentrations and long-term exposure, it can cause death by asphyxiation.[3] As a chemical warfare agent, chlorine was first used in World War I as a poison gas weapon.[4] On 22 April 1915, Germans attacked French, Canadian, and Algerian forces with Chlorine released from canisters and carried by the wind toward the Allied Trenches.[5]
Phosgene is another irritant gas that is six times more deadly than chlorine gas.[6] Although the Germans were the first to use phosgene on the battlefield, it became the primary chemical weapon of the Allies. Phosgene was responsible for 85% of chemical weapons casualties during World War I.[7]
mustard gas was the most common chemical agent of World War I.[8] The Allies carried out more gas attacks than Germany. The entry of the United States into the war allowed the Allies to increase the production of mustard gas much more than Germany. Mustard gas caused the most casualties from chemical weapons.[9][10]
Crimes using incendiary devices[edit]
Incendiary devices, incendiary weapons, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires or destroy sensitive equipment using fire (and sometimes used as anti-personnel weaponry), using materials such as napalm, thermite, magnesium powder, chlorine trifluoride, or white phosphorus.[11] The use of incendiary devices is prohibited under the general prohibition on attacks against civilians in Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions.[12]
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15 year-old Ayman al-Najar at the Al-Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. He sustained severe injuries from white phosphorus after Israeli bombing of the village Khoza'a.
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Airburst of an Israeli white phosphorus shell over Gaza City
Israeli attacks against Gaza[edit]
Israel used White Phosphorus against Gaza. According to Amnesty International delegates report According to reports, the agents found indisputable proof of the widespread use of white phosphorus in densely populated residential environs in Gaza City and in the north.[13] On March 25, 2009, the US-based Human Rights Watch released a 71-page report entitled " Rain of Fire, Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza ", which said Israel's use of the weapon was illegal.[14] In January 2010, a report submitted to the United Nations by the Israeli military confirmed the use of white phosphorus in populated civilian areas.[15]
US attacks against Iraq[edit]
The US forces used white phosphorus and Napalm as incendiary weapons in Mosul and Fallujah. On the March 2005, Field artillery, a magazine published by the US Army, published reports of the use of white phosphorus in the battle for Fallujah. the British Ministry of Defence confirmed the use of Mark 77 bomb by US forces in the attack on Iraq.[16]
According to the information provided by the American forces to the Ministry of Defence, during the 2003 Iraq War, it is estimated that more than 300,000 DU rounds were fired in or near populated areas of Iraq, including As Samawa, Nasiriyah, and Basra, the vast majority by US forces.[17][18]
US attacks against Syria[edit]
The US-led coalition (the United Kingdom, France, Jordan, Turkey, Canada, Australia, etc.) have used white phosphorus in populated areas in Syria.[19] According to the local monitoring group "Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently and other local sources, the use of white phosphorus munitions endangered the lives of thousands of civilians trapped in and around the city of Raqqa.[20]
US and NATO attacks against Afghanistan[edit]
In 2009, Human Rights Watch reported, NATO refused to release its findings after investigating the death of an 8-year-old girl who was allegedly burned by white phosphorus munitions. later the US military later confessed to using white phosphorus in Afghanistan in 2009.[21]
Crimes using explosive weapons[edit]
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![Iskander-M ballistic missile with cluster warhead wreckage that was shot down over Kramatorsk by the Ukrainian air defenses.]]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Iskander-M_ballistic_missile_with_cluster_warhead_wreckage_02.jpg/101px-Iskander-M_ballistic_missile_with_cluster_warhead_wreckage_02.jpg)
Iskander-M ballistic missile with cluster warhead wreckage that was shot down over Kramatorsk by the Ukrainian air defenses.]]
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Ban Advocates from Afghanistan and Ethiopia demonstrating outside of the Dublin conference
![Iskander-M ballistic missile with cluster warhead wreckage that was shot down over Kramatorsk by the Ukrainian air defenses.]]](/File:Iskander-M_ballistic_missile_with_cluster_warhead_wreckage_02.jpg)
An explosive weapon is a weapon that uses high explosives to spread the explosion and/or fragment from the point of detonation. In the common practice of governments, explosive weapons are generally at the disposal of the military, for use in situations of armed conflict.[22] Explosive weapons may not explode when used and often remain as Unexploded ordnance (UXO). These weapons still pose a risk of explosion, sometimes decades after being used or dumped.[23] The use of some explosive weapons such as certain explosive rifle projectiles, anti-personnel landmines, and cluster munitions is prohibited in international treaties.[24]
Saudi-led coalition attacks against Yemen[edit]
Amnesty International presented evidence that since 2015, Saudi Arabia, leading a coalition of nine countries from West Asia and North Africa,[25] with intelligence and logistical support from the US and British military,[26] used seven types of air and ground-based cluster munitions made by the US, the UK and Brazil in attacks on Yemen.[27][28] According to a 2017 UN report, Yemen was the second deadliest country for cluster bombs after Syria. Children have been killed or injured long after the bombs fell.[29]
Ukrainian attacks against Donetsk[edit]
According to Human Rights Watch, in early October 2014, Ukrainian government forces used cluster munitions in densely populated areas of Donetsk.[30]
Crimes using biological warfare[edit]
Biological warfare, also known as germ warfare, is the use of biological poisons or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi to kill, injure, or incapacitate humans, animals, or plants as an act of war. Biological weapons, often also referred to as bio-weapons", "biological threat agents", or "bio-agents", are living or replicating organisms (i.e., viruses that are not universally considered "living"). Entomological warfare is a subset of biological warfare.[31] Offensive biological warfare is prohibited under customary international humanitarian law and several international treaties,[32] and the use of biological agents in armed conflicts is considered a war crime.[33]
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U.S. authorities granted Unit 731 officials immunity from prosecution in return for access to their research.
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Researchers working in Class III cabinets at the U.S. Army Biological Warfare Laboratories, Camp Detrick, Maryland (1940s).
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ Rule 74. The use of chemical weapons is prohibited., Customary IHL Database, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)/Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ K. Ganesan, S. K. Raza, and R. Vijayaraghavan (Jul–Sep 2010). "Chemical warfare agents". Journal of Pharmacy and Bioallied Sciences. 2 (3): 166–178. doi:10.4103/0975-7406.68498. PMC 3148621. PMID 21829312.CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
- ↑ Romano, James A.; Lukey, Brian J.; Salem, Harry (2007). Chemical warfare agents: chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, and therapeutics (2nd ed.). CRC Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-4200-4661-8. Search this book on
- ↑ Van der Kloot, W. (2004). "April 1915: Five Future Nobel Prize-winners inaugurate weapons of mass destruction and the academic-industrial-military complex". Notes and Records. 58 (2): 149–260. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2004.0053. Unknown parameter
|s2cid=ignored (help) - ↑ "Second Battle of Ypres begins". History. A&E Television Networks. Retrieved 13 August 2023.
- ↑ Staff (22 February 2006). "Facts About Phosgene". CDC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2003. Retrieved 23 May 2008. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Everts, Sarah (12 May 2015). "A Brief History of Chemical War". Science History Institute.
- ↑ https://www.acs.org/content/dam/acsorg/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/gc-mustard-gas-personal-safety-and-natl-security.pdf[bare URL PDF]
- ↑ Crowell, Benedict; Wilson, Robert Forrest (1921). The Armies of Industry: Our Nation's Manufacture of Munitions for a World in Arms, 1917–1918. 5. Yale University Press. pp. 491, 500. ISBN 1-60105-114-X. Retrieved 8 December 2008. Search this book on
- ↑ Gross, Daniel A. (Spring 2015). "Chemical Warfare: From the European Battlefield to the American Laboratory". Distillations. 1 (1): 16–23. Retrieved 20 March 2018.
- ↑ Andriukaitis, Lukas; Beals, Emma; Brookie, Graham; Higgins, Eliot; Itani, Faysal; Nimmo, Ben; Sheldon, Michael; Tsurkov, Elizabeth; Waters, Nick (2018). "Incendiary Weapons". Breaking Ghouta. Atlantic Council. pp. 36–43. Search this book on
- ↑ although the 4th Geneva Convention, Part 3, Article 1, Section 28 states "The presence of a protected person(s) may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."
- ↑ "Israel/Occupied Palestinian Territories: Israel's use of white phosphorus against Gaza civilians "clear and undeniable"". Amnesty International. 19 January 2009.
- ↑ Esveld, Bill Van (25 March 2009). "Rain of Fire, Israel's Unlawful Use of White Phosphorus in Gaza". Human Rights Watch. Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2016. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Payne, Ed (23 July 2010). "Israel to limit use of white phosphorus in conflicts". CNN.
- ↑ "Indiscriminate and Especially Injurious Weapons". Global Policy.
- ↑ Hastings, Deborah (12 August 2006). "Is an Armament Sickening U.S. Soldiers?". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 3 July 2014. Retrieved 30 March 2015. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Edwards, Rob (19 June 2014). "US fired depleted uranium at civilian areas in 2003 Iraq war, report finds". theguardian.
- ↑ Barnard, Anne (10 June 2017). "U.S.-Led Forces Said to Have Used White Phosphorus in Syria". The New York Times.
- ↑ "Syria: Expert analysis shows US-led coalition use of white phosphorus". Amnesty International. 16 June 2017.
- ↑ Graff, Peter (11 May 2009). "U.S. says Afghan insurgents use white phosphorus". Reuters.
- ↑ "1997 Report of the Panel of Governmental Experts on Small Arms". Retrieved 6 August 2012.
- ↑ UNICEF. "Children and Landmines: A Deadly Legacy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 September 2009. Retrieved 17 November 2019. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Report of the Secretary-General on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, United Nations Security Council, 29 May 2009, S/2009/277, para 36.
- ↑ "SOMALIA: Somalia finally pledges support to Saudi-led coalition in Yemen – Raxanreeb Online". RBC Radio. 7 April 2015. Archived from the original on 7 April 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2015. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Akbar Shahid Ahmed (10 August 2016). "Obama Could End the Slaughter in Yemen Within Hours". HuffPost. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
- ↑ "Yemen: Saudi Arabia-led coalition uses banned Brazilian cluster munitions on residential areas". Amnesty International. 9 March 2017.
- ↑ Nichols, Michelle (22 December 2015). "U.N. blames Saudi-led coalition for most attacks on Yemeni civilians". Reuters UK. Archived from the original on 25 December 2015. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Ukraine: What are cluster munitions? Is using them a war crime?". aljazeera. 7 July 2023.
- ↑ "Cluster bombs used in eastern Ukraine, says human rights group". The Guardian. 21 October 2014.
- ↑ Berger, Tamar; Eisenkraft, Arik; Bar-Haim, Erez; Kassirer, Michael; Aran, Adi Avniel; Fogel, Itay (2016). "Toxins as biological weapons for terror-characteristics, challenges and medical countermeasures: a mini-review". Disaster and Military Medicine. 2: 7 MI. doi:10.1186/s40696-016-0017-4. ISSN 2054-314X. PMC 5330008. PMID 28265441.
- ↑ Rule 73. The use of biological weapons is prohibited. Archived 12 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Customary IHL Database, International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)/Cambridge University Press.
- ↑ Alexander Schwarz, "War Crimes" in The Law of Armed Conflict and the Use of Force: The Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law (Archived 12 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine) (eds. Frauke Lachenmann & Rüdiger Wolfrum: Oxford University Press, 2017), p. 1317.
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