A Duty to Disobey All Unlawful Orders

Yoshie Furuhashi furuhashi.1 at osu.edu
Wed Mar 19 11:07:34 PST 2003


At 7:40 PM -0600 3/17/03, Carrol Cox wrote:
>the difficulty is not informing troops that they have a duty to disobey.

According to the Nuremberg Principles, not only soldiers but also civilians have a duty to disobey all orders to commit acts that constitute crimes under international law -- see especially the sections concerning "crimes against peace" and "crimes against humanity":

***** Principle VI

The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:

a. Crimes against peace: (i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances; (ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).

b. War crimes: Violations of the laws or customs of war which include, but are not limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity.

c. Crimes against humanity: Atrocities and offenses, including but not limited to murder, extermination, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape, or other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds whether or not in violation of the domestic laws of the country where perpetrated.

Principle VII

Complicity in the commission of a crime against peace, a war crime, or a crime against humanity as set forth in Principle VI is a crime under international law....

<http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/meiklejohn/meik-peacelaw/meik-peacelaw-10.html> ***** -- Yoshie

* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/> * Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio> * Solidarity: <http://solidarity.igc.org/>



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