Page 15 - Coespu Magazine 2017-2

PROTECTION OF CIVILIANS

According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the related Additional Protocols of 1977,
civilians and all persons not taking part in combat may under no circumstances be the object of
attack and must be spared and protected: for the first time the Protection of Civilians (PoC) was
afforded to all civilians caught up in armed conflicts, and the Protocols included enhanced
obligations on parties to the
conflict to provide the essential
needs for the survival of the
civilians population, including
humanitarian access,
protection of humanitarian
relief workers and a general
prohibition on starvation.
Despite the development of the
law and the protection
provided by the law, in reality
civilians have been increasingly targeted throughout human history. It is estimated that one out of
ten casualties in the First World War was a civilian. By the Second World War, this number had
increased up to five out of ten casualties. Today the estimation has increased to nine out of ten
casualties: a very impressive number.

Residents of the refugee camp of Yarmouk, Syria, queuing to receive food supplies from the UN
This trend is alarming, particularly in light of significant legal developments, among which the
establishment of international tribunals, designed to end impunity and limit effects of armed
conflicts on the civilian populations.
In contemporary conflicts, in fact, the losses sustained by civilians are generally higher than those

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