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Noncombatant immunity (international norm)
Much of the horror and revulsion inspired by modern warfare, genocide, and terrorism, spring from the violence they inflict on innocent bystanders, individuals posing no immediate threat to their attackers. This aversion to harming noncombatants has supported a long-standing and widespread normative belief that noncombatants should and could be provided with immunity from the violence of armed conflict. Noncombatant immunity has served as a fundamental limit on political violence, and many cultures have come to equate deviations from the norm with what it means to commit an atrocity. In the twentieth century, noncombatant immunity has emerged as a basic human right codified in international law. Violating this right had become a quintessential atrocity.
Noncombatant immunity in its simplest form was the notion that those not participating in the fighting of a war should and could be protected from the war’s violence. This simple idea begged the questions of who should be considered a participant in war, whether this protection should be abandoned in the face of conflicting values, and what responsibilities belligerents should have in keeping noncombatants alive beyond refraining from their purposeful slaughter. For instance, should those who manufacture the soldiers’ weapons be considered completely innocent of waging war? Should noncombatants be spared at the risk of soldiers’ lives or the risk of prolonging fighting? Must soldiers avoid attacking segments of an enemy’s economy, like its food supplies, because these are necessary to prevent starvation among noncombatants?
The Tradition of Noncombatant Immunity
The idea of noncombatant immunity has found purchase in so many diverse religions, cultural traditions, and ways of reasoning that one can call it an international normative value in the twentieth century and arguably much earlier. However, the idea has been a contested one and has taken various forms. One can see a basic form among ancient peoples and more recent small-scale societies. Prohibitions against killing noncombatants developed early in many of the major religious traditions around the world.
European Tradition
Many Americans in 1945 found themselves inheritors of the European tradition of noncombatant immunity. The European version of noncombatant immunity and other diverse sources of the norm shared a few simple ideas but left a number of central questions open to dispute.