Born to Live, Killed for Nothing: Moral Strategic and Legal Reasons for Outlawing Collateral Damage

International Law Breakfast Briefing with Associate Professor Valentin Jeutner, Lund University.

At times of war, international law permits states to kill innocent civilians if the killing of those civilians is an incidental outcome of states pursuing a military objective and if the number of civilians killed is not excessive in relation to the advantage states gain by achieving that military objective. Civilians thus killed are colloquially referred to as 'collateral damage‘. The talk presents a draft manuscript of a book to be published by Cambridge University Press. The book argues that there are no good reasons for permitting such collateral damage and, consequently, that collateral damage, i.e. the intentional (albeit incidental) killing of innocent civilians, ought to be outlawed. The talk begins by defining collateral damage and by presenting the mainstream justifications for international law’s current regulation of it (especially the doctrine of double effect). The second part of the presentation argues that the mainstream justifications in favour of permitting collateral damage are unconvincing and that the killing of innocent civilians is both immoral and, in almost all cases, counter-productive from a strategic point of view. The talk’s third and final part outlines how the proposal to outlaw collateral damage could be implemented and which obstacles, in theoretical and practical terms, such a proposal would face.

Bio

Valentin Jeutner is Associate Professor of International Law at Lund University, Sweden and Retained Lecturer in Law at Pembroke College, Oxford. At Lund, he is directing the Master Programme of International Human Rights Law and the first Museum of International Law.

About the series

The International Law Breakfast Briefings offer a regular opportunity for researchers, practitioners, and students with an interest in international law to meet, exchange views, and share research findings on current issues in the field.

Format: Each session features a presentation of approximately 20-25 minutes, followed by a discussion. Unless otherwise specified, both the presentation and discussion will be conducted in English. Coffee and croissants will be available for all registered participants attending in person.

Researchers – including PhD students – and practitioners working in the field of international law who are interested in presenting at one of our upcoming sessions in the fall series are warmly invited to contact cornelius.wiesener@jur.ku.dk or astrid.kjeldgaard-pedersen@jur.ku.dk.