Renouncing Reprisals: An Opportunity for the Biden Administration

Apr 1, 2021 | Adil Ahmad Haque
View Original

The United States has taken a number of morally objectionable positions regarding the lawful conduct of armed conflict over the years. Among those positions, it still claims the legal right to attack civilians, objects indispensable to their survival, and their natural environment by way of reprisal, that is, in response to violations of the law of armed conflict by enemy armed forces. The Biden administration could and should renounce this position. It may soon have an opportunity to do so.