08. Violation V: Collective Punishment

With a heavy dose of fear and violence, and a lot of money for projects, I think we can convince these people that we are here to help them.

– U.S. Colonel Nate Sassaman, after encircling Abu Hishma village with razor wire⁵³

Many routine practices of the U.S. occupation violate the prohibition against imposing collective punishment on the civilian population. In addition to mass arrests and detention, mass lay-offs, and failure to provide public safety, the U.S. has prevented freedom of movement through checkpoints and road closures, demolished civilian homes, and sealed off entire towns and villages. After U.S. forces were attacked on the road skirting Abu Hishma on November 2003, the entire village was encircled with razor wire and residents prevented from entering or leaving without U.S.-issued identification cards.⁵⁴ Human rights groups have also documented numerous examples of home demolitions being used as collective punishment. As Human Rights Watch has pointed out, “destroying civilian property as a reprisal or as a deterrent amounts to collective punishment, a violation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.”⁵⁵

These unlawful practices mirror Israeli military tactics used in the occupied Palestinian territories. The New York Times reports that “Israeli defense experts briefed American commanders on their experience in guerrilla and urban warfare”—a euphemism for Israeli actions in Jenin, Gaza and elsewhere that have been widely condemned as war crimes.⁵⁶ Considering the international and especially regional outrage at Israel’s routine commission of war crimes as an integral component of its occupation of Palestine, American reliance on these same tactics has grave and troubling consequences for the occupation of Iraq.

Legal Principles related to Collective Punishment

• “Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited” Geneva Convention IV, Article 33
• “Collective punishments… are and shall remain prohibited at any time and in any place whatsoever, whether committed by civilian or by military agents” Geneva Protocol 1, Article 75
• “Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each State” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 13
• “Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State shall, within that territory, have the right to liberty of movement and freedom to choose his residence.” International Covenant on Civil & Political Rights, Article 12
• “Civilian objects shall not be the object of attack or of reprisals… In case of doubt whether an object which is normally dedicated to civilian purposes, such as a place of worship, a house or other dwelling or a school, is being used to make an effective contribution to military action, it shall be presumed not to be so used.” Geneva Protocol I, Article 52.
• “Everyone has the right to… housing.” Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 25.