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While the United Nations has not been able to agree on whether foreign forces should intervene in Syria, the “civil war” designation may help to protect citizens by making it possible to prosecute combatants for war crimes.
What a ‘civil war’ designation means
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Syrians have been protesting the government and President Bashar al-Assad since March 2011. |
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In order to be declared a civil war, or in official terms a “non-international armed conflict”, a conflict must meet several conditions, including the recognition that both sides have military capacity, and rebels declaring they intend to run a state in the event that they defeat the government.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), a Geneva, Switzerland-based organization dedicated to protecting victims of armed conflict and providing humanitarian aid, is the group tasked with officially declaring that a conflict has met the qualifications for civil war. The ICRC holds this responsibility because of its position as the keeper of the Geneva Conventions.
The Geneva Conventions were completed in 1949 and lay out the rules of war. The Conventions aim to “(regulate) the conduct of armed conflict and (seek) to limit its effects.” In the case of civil wars, which the ICRC says are “often fought with more cruelty than international conflicts,” the conventions intend to protect civilians without stepping on a state’s ability to police itself.
By calling Syria’s conflict a civil war, the ICRC is saying it will hold the combatants involved accountable to the Geneva conventions. This means that either side could be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for humanitarian crimes.
Armed conflict takes its toll
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Syrian security forces inspect the scene of an explosion that targeted a military bus near Qudssaya, a neighbourhood of the Syrian capital, in June. |
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The United Nations estimates that close to 14,000 Syrians have been killed since the uprising again Assad’s government began more than a year ago.
The demonstrations in Syria make up one of several large-scale uprisings across the Arab world, often referred to as the “Arab Spring.” The Arab Spring movement has unseated leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Other countries in the region experiencing their own uprisings include Bahrain, Yemen and Morocco.
In Syria, troops have bombarded rebel strongholds with artillery, fired across the Turkish border at a Syrian refugee camp, and shot down a Turkish jet that crossed into Syrian air space. These actions have drawn criticism from the international community and sparked fears that the conflict will turn into more than a civil war.
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Syrian Forces Stop Attacking Rebel Cities - For Now
