GENERAL ASSEMBLY RESOLUTION AT VOTE
Wartime Looting and Pillage
A resolution to improve worldwide human and civil rights.
Category: Human Rights
Strength: Significant
Proposed by: (http://www.nationstates.net/images/flags/uploads/separatist_peoples__316410t2.jpg) Separatist Peoples (http://www.nationstates.net/nation=separatist_peoples)
Description:
Noting the necessity of military conflict and the violence and destruction that often follows;
Seeking to protect civilians who find themselves caught in a situation they aren’t responsible for, and;
Striving for a fair balance between strategic considerations and civilian lives;
The World Assembly establishes thusly:
Article I. Wartime Looting
1. Wartime looting shall be defined as the forceful seizure or theft of non-essential or humanitarian relief supplies by a military entity from civilian non-combatants within a theatre of combat operations during a time of armed conflict.
2. Wartime looting shall be determined by the nature of the goods being seized; seizure of essential supplies, such as food, water, or medical supplies not distributed as humanitarian aid, and material essential for immediate military operations, shall not be considered wartime looting, provided the owners are left sufficient supplies for their own needs.
3. Essential supplies seized from non-government entities by military forces shall be replaced or compensated for as soon as possible by the nation responsible for the seizure.
4. During conflict, member states shall specifically prohibit the seizure or damage of artistic or cultural treasures without explicit permission from the artefact’s [SIC] rightful governing authority, except for the purpose of temporarily securing them against damage or theft.
5. Member states are obliged to return secured artefacts [SIC] to their rightful governing authority at the cessation of hostilities, and shall compensate owners for damages sustained in the interim.
6. Member states shall consider actions deliberately contrary to these provisions to be wartime looting, and therefore a war crime, and shall take all necessary steps to prevent it within their jurisdiction.
7. Member states shall consider command responsibility in the prosecution of wartime looting, and shall consider orders to the contrary of these provisions to be manifestly illegal. Member states shall ensure that subordinates can refuse such orders without fear of penalty.
Article II. Wartime Pillaging
1. Wartime pillage shall be defined as the intentional use of violence against civilians and their property by a military force, except where rendered, in the strictest sense, an absolute necessity by military strategy.
2. Member states’ military forces are obliged to prevent unnecessary or disproportionate use of violence against civilians. Military forces may respond in self-defence [SIC] with equivalent force to open aggression against them by civilians.
3. Member states’ military forces are obliged to limit deliberate targeting of civilian property, except where such action is rendered an absolutely military necessity, and shall take all possible steps to protect civilian property from destruction in the territory they effectively control.
4. The use of violence against civilian persons or property for the purposes of coercion or reprisal shall never be considered a military necessity by member states.
5. Member states shall consider actions deliberately contrary to these provisions to be wartime pillaging, and therefore a war crime, and shall take all necessary steps to prevent it within their jurisdiction.
6. Member states shall consider command responsibility in the prosecution of wartime pillaging, and shall consider orders to the contrary of these provisions to be manifestly illegal. Member states shall ensure that subordinates can refuse such orders without fear of penalty.
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