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 rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...
to punish another
sovereign
''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word is borrowed from Old French , which is ultimately derived from the Latin , meaning 'above'.
The roles of a sovereign vary from monarch, ruler or ...
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 the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...
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; persons, such as combat medics and military chaplains, who are members of the belligerent ...
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. Counter-reprisals are generally not allowed.
World War I
1914 Portugal-Germany dispute
An example of reprisal is the
Naulila
Naulila is a town and commune in the municipality of Ombadja, province of Cunene, Angola.
Located on the Cunene River which separates Angola and Namibia, Naulila was the scene of fighting between Portuguese Angola and German South West Afric ...
dispute between
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
in October 1914, when they were on opposite sides of the
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
chasm. After three Germans were mistakenly killed in Naulila on the border of the then-Portuguese colony of
Angola
, national_anthem = " Angola Avante"()
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capital = Luanda
, religion =
, religion_year = 2020
, religion_ref =
, coordina ...
(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.
World War II
Bennett writes that the events of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
can be seen through either the prism of
negative reciprocity 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
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
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 (UN) is the foundational treaty of the UN, an intergovernmental organization. It establishes the purposes, governing structure, and overall framework of the UN system, including its six principal organs: the ...
, 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. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
,
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, 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 priso ...
, 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
Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not "combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant, b ...
or
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
),
as well as certain buildings and property. The 1977
AP 1 defines what is an "
indiscriminate attack In international humanitarian law and international criminal law, an indiscriminate attack is a military attack that fails to distinguish between military objectives and protected (civilian) objects. Indiscriminate attacks strike both military and ...
". An additional 1977 protocol extends this to cover historic monuments, works of art, and places of worship.
According to
Kenneth Anderson, restrictions on reprisal continue to restrict the circumstances in which it can be lawfully employed, and "
e trend... is to outlaw reprisal under all circumstances".
See also
*
Collective punishment
Collective punishment is a punishment or sanction imposed on a group for acts allegedly perpetrated by a member of that group, which could be an ethnic or political group, or just the family, friends and neighbors of the perpetrator. Because ind ...
*
Letter of marque (license to hunt enemy ships and retake lost ships from the enemy)
References
Citations
Sources
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*{{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