Just War - Introduction

The status of noncombatants in terms of their immunity from attack is a central moral question arising out of attempts to limit the conduct of war that is variously addressed by just war theorists, realists and pacifists. In what follows, against the realists, war will be considered an activity subject to moral scrutiny. The principle of noncombatant immunity will be further addressed from the jus in bello perspective of the just war theory, and noncombatant immunity examined as a moral problem, attending particularly to the principles of discrimination and the doctrine of double effect. A recently emerging alternative theme in just war thinking emphasising absolute noncombatant immunity will then be considered. To argue that any civilian deaths, intended or otherwise, is unjust is actually a form of pacifism that renders impossible warfare in the “just” sense. On the whole, however, interpretation of the just war theory consistent with its tradition provides the most coherent, practical and just approach to understanding the place of noncombatants in war.

Concern about civilian casualties is one of the main reasons typically offered for opposition to war in general and specific methods of waging war in particular. In discussing the potential for war in the Middle East, Pope John Paul II reminded hearers of the “consequences for civilian populations both during and after military operations”[1]. More recently, the International Committee of the Red Cross has called for urgent international action on cluster munitions, because their inaccuracy and unreliability produces “indiscriminate” results[2]. Similar ongoing concerns about noncombatant injuries and deaths heavily influence the contemporary discourse of war. Moral categories are employed in an attempt to grapple with the dilemmas of the decision to engage in war and how war is to be conducted. These are frequently founded on the ethical understandings of the status of noncombatants during war guided by just war theory.

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[1] The Times. “The Pope: Why I say no to war”, 12 February 2003. Retrieved 12^th November 2006 from http://www.why-war.com/news/2003/02/12/whyisayn.html

[2] International Committee of the Red Cross. The Need For Urgent International Action on Cluster Munitions Retrieved 16^th November 2006 from http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/cluster-munition-statement-061106?opendocument