International Law Applicable to Urban Siege Warfare: Exploring Contemporary and Future Challenges and Opportunities

Co-convenors

The Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict (HLS PILAC), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Regional Delegation for the United States and Canada, and the Lieber Institute for Law & Land Warfare of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point

Background

Siege has been variously described as a military tactic, a method of warfare, or an operational strategy. Besieging forces — whether operating on their own or with or through partners — seek to compel surrender, reduce adversary resistance, or lay the ground for an assault by encircling or otherwise isolating an area (such as a town) or a building (such as a fortress) and cutting off essential supplies to it. A siege’s perceived military value is typically achieved precisely through the threat — or actual imposition — of often-extensive deprivation and suffering, including starvation. Due partly to the nature and characteristics of contemporary urban settings, sieges in cities regularly entail extraordinary harm to civilians as well as fighters placed hors de combat. Today, there is no reasonable doubt that urban siege operations are governed at least by international law. Yet, in part because of a lack of definitional clarity on what exactly siege entails, the precise content and contours of the applicable law remain subject to interpretative disputes in several key respects. Further, even the firmly agreed-upon rules are frequently violated in several urban sieges.

Workshop

This workshop will ground a legal examination of urban sieges in historical examples and contemporary experiences from a range of military, civilian, and humanitarian perspectives. Emphasis will be placed on discerning and evaluating international law and policy pertaining to besieging and besieged forces, civilian populations, and humanitarian actors. The workshop is premised on the following idea: examining legal aspects of urban siege operations through the lens of the interlinked strategic, operational, and tactical levels of decision-making and conduct will help generate new knowledge of existing policies and practices, help facilitate a critical assessment of military and humanitarian approaches, and help identify avenues to strengthen respect for and possibly develop the law.

This private workshop brings together specialists from academia, government agencies, international bodies, and non-governmental organizations. The primary objective of this event is to share ideas and perspectives in a format that will allow for an open and in-depth discussion under the Chatham House Rule.

Information for Participants

Workshop participants may access the event’s private webpage at this link.