Indiscriminate or Disproportionate Attacks per the Geneva Conventions [View all]
Indiscriminate or Disproportionate Attacks
Humanitarian law prohibits any kind of indiscriminate attacks. Such attacks do not distinguish between military objectives and civilian persons or property. Such attacks are defined and prohibited in detail in Article 51 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions as well as in Rules 11, 12 and 13 of ICRC customary IHL study:
attacks that are not directed at a specific military objective;
attacks that employ a method or means of combat that cannot be directed at a specific military objective;
attacks that employ a method or means of combat whose effects cannot be limited;
attacks by bombardment, by any methods or means, that treat as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village, or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects;
attacks that may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof and that would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.