Reprisal
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A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of
international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
to punish another
sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title that can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin">-4; we might wonder whether there's a point at which it's appropriate to ...
state that has already broken them. Since the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (AP 1), reprisals in the
laws of war The law of war is a component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of hostilities (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territories, ...
are extremely limited, as they commonly breach the rights of
non-combatant Non-combatant is a term of art in the law of war and international humanitarian law to refer to civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities. People such as combat medics and military chaplains, who are members of the belligerent arm ...
s.


Etymology

The word came from French, where it originally meant "act of taking back", for example, raiding back the equivalent of cattle lost to an enemy raid.


International law

Reprisals refer to acts which are illegal if taken alone, but become legal when adopted by one state in retaliation for the commission of an earlier illegal act by another state. ICRC’s Database of Customary
International Humanitarian Law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict or the laws of war, is the law that regulates the conduct of war (''wikt:jus in bello, jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit ...
states in Rule 145: "Where not prohibited by international law, belligerent reprisals are subject to stringent conditions." "Counter-reprisals" are generally not allowed.


World War I


1914 Portugal-Germany dispute

An example of reprisal is the Naulila dispute between
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
in October 1914, when they were on opposite sides of the
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
chasm. After three Germans were mistakenly killed in Naulila on the border of the then-Portuguese colony of
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
(in a manner that did not violate international law), Germany carried out a military raid on Naulila, destroying property in retaliation. A claim for compensation was brought by Portugal. The tribunal emphasized that before reprisals could be legally undertaken, a number of conditions had to be satisfied: *There had to be a previous act by the other party that violated international law. *Reprisals had to be preceded by an unsatisfied demand for reparation or compliance with the violated international law. *There must be proportionality between the offence and reprisal. The German claim that it had acted lawfully was rejected on all three grounds.


Irish War of Independence

During the
Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...
, reprisals were authorized by British authorities in areas of Ireland that were under
martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...
. From December 1920 until June 1921 approximately 150 official reprisals were carried out. In December 1920, Commander-in-Chief, Ireland Nevil Macready informed the
Lloyd George ministry Liberal David Lloyd George formed a coalition government in the United Kingdom in December 1916, and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V. It replaced the earlier wartime coalition under H. H. Asquith, which had ...
that military governors in areas under martial law had been authorized to conduct reprisals in response to attacks on local
security forces Security forces are statutory organizations with internal security mandates. In the legal context of several countries, the term has variously denoted police and military units working in concert, or the role of irregular military and paramilitar ...
, under these conditions:


World War II

Bennett writes that the events of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
can be seen through either the prism of
negative reciprocity In cultural anthropology, reciprocity refers to the Non-market economics, non-market exchange of goods or labour ranging from direct barter (immediate exchange) to forms of gift economy, gift exchange where a return is eventually expected (delayed ...
or the prism of reprisal. If the latter, "the rules also required that reprisals be used ‘only as an unavoidable last resort to induce the enemy to desist from illegitimate practices’". The official 1940 American Rules of Land Warfare stated that "commanding officers must assume responsibility for retaliative measures when an unscrupulous enemy leaves no other recourse against the repetition of barbarous outrages." Both Rogers and Bennett write that " ate practice in the Second World War was characterised by, among other factors, the doctrine of belligerent reprisal."


Post-1945

After 1945, as a result of the general prohibition on use of force imposed by Article 2(4) of the
United Nations Charter The Charter of the United Nations is the foundational treaty of the United Nations (UN). It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the United Nations System, UN system, including its United Nations System#Six ...
, armed reprisals in time of peace are no longer legal, but the possibility remains of non-armed reprisals (also known as
countermeasure A countermeasure is a measure or action taken to counter or offset another one. As a general concept, it implies precision and is any technological or tactical solution or system designed to prevent an undesirable outcome in the process. The fi ...
s) as well as belligerent reprisals during hostilities when the law of international armed conflict (LOIAC) is violated. In the case of belligerent reprisals, apart from the three factors in the Naulila case: * a warning must also be issued beforehand; * once the other party has stopped violation of LOIAC, belligerent reprisals must also be terminated; * and the decision to engage in belligerent reprisals must be taken by a competent authority. All four Geneva Conventions prohibit reprisals against, respectively, battlefield casualties,
shipwreck survivors A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. It results from the event of ''shipwrecking'', which may be intentional or unintentional. There were approximately thre ...
,
prisoners of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war for a ...
, and
protected persons Protected persons is a legal term under international humanitarian law and refers to persons who are under specific protection of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, their 1977 Additional Protocols, and customary international humanitarian law during an ...
(
civilian A civilian is a person who is not a member of an armed force. It is war crime, illegal under the law of armed conflict to target civilians with military attacks, along with numerous other considerations for civilians during times of war. If a civi ...
or
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
), as well as certain buildings and property. The 1977 AP 1 defines what is an " indiscriminate attack".


See also

*
Collective punishment Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group or whole community for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member or some members of that group or area, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends a ...
*
Letter of marque A letter of marque and reprisal () was a Sovereign state, government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or French corsairs, corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with t ...
(license to hunt enemy ships and retake lost ships from the enemy)


References


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * *{{cite book , title=International Law (6th edn) , last=Shaw , first=Malcolm , author-link=Malcolm Shaw (academic) , year=2008 , publisher=Cambridge University Press , location=Cambridge , isbn=978-0-521-72814-0 Collective punishment Law of war Military doctrines