|
|
| Portal |
Military occupation occurs when the control and authority over a territory passes to a hostile army. The territory then becomes occupied territory.
Contents |
From the second half of the 18th century onwards, international law has come to distinguish between the military occupation of a country and territorial acquisition by invasion and annexation, the difference between the two being originally expounded upon by Emerich de Vattel in The Law of Nations (1758). The distinction then became clear and has been recognized among the principles of international law since the end of the Napoleonic wars in the 19th century. These customary laws of belligerent occupation which evolved as part of the laws of war gave some protection to the population under the military occupation of a belligerent power.
The Hague Conventions of 1907 further clarified and supplemented these customary laws. Specifically "Laws and Customs of War on Land" (Hague IV); October 18, 1907: "Section III Military Authority over the territory of the hostile State."[1] The first two articles of that section state:
In 1949 these laws governing belligerent occupation of an enemy state's territory were further extended by the adoption of the Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV). Much of GCIV is relevant to protected persons in occupied territories and Section III: Occupied territories is a specific section covering the issue.
Article 6 restricts the length of time that most of GCIV applies:
GCIV emphasised an important change in international law. The United Nations Charter (June 26, 1945) had prohibited war of aggression (See articles 1.1, 2.3, 2.4) and GCIV Article 47, the first paragraph in Section III: Occupied territories, restricted the territorial gains which could be made through war by stating:
Article 49 prohibits the forced mass movement of people out of or into occupied state's territory:
Protocol I (1977): "Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts" has additional articles which cover military occupation but many countries including the U.S. are not signatory to this additional protocol.
In the situation of a territorial cession as the result of war, the specification of a "receiving country" in the peace treaty merely means that the country in question is authorized by the international community to establish civil government in the territory. The military government of the principal occupying power will continue past the point in time when the peace treaty comes into force, until it is legally supplanted.
"Military government continues until legally supplanted" is the rule, as stated in Military Government and Martial Law, by William E. Birkhimer, 3rd edition 1914.
Research suggests that military occupation of a country can cause suicide terrorism campaigns and that withdrawal of the military occupation almost always ends them. In a six year research project partially funded by the Threat Reduction Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, University of Chicago political science professor and former U.S. Air Force lecturer Robert Pape and his team examined data about suicide attacks around the world and compiled attack statistics in a publicly available database comprising some 10,000 records.[2]
"We have lots of evidence now that when you put the foreign military presence in, it triggers suicide terrorism campaigns, ... and that when the foreign forces leave, it takes away almost 100 percent of the terrorist campaign," Pape said in October 2010. By way of recent example, Pape cited the dramatic increase in suicide bombings in Afghanistan since the U.S. expanded its military presence in 2006 in the south and east of the country. Pape stated that a total of 12 suicide attacks occurred from 2001 to 2005 in Afghanistan when the U.S. had a few thousand troops mostly limited to the capital Kabul, since 2006 there have been more than 450 suicide attacks in Afghanistan — and they are growing more lethal, Pape said. Deaths due to suicide attacks in Afghanistan have increased by a third each year since President Barack Obama increased the military presence by 30,000.[3]
In most wars some territory is placed under the authority of the hostile army. Most military occupations end with the cessation of hostilities. In some cases the occupied territory is returned and in others the land remains under the control of the occupying power but usually not as militarily occupied territory. Sometimes the status of presences is disputed by a party to the situation.
Original content adapted from the Wikinfo article, "wikinfo:Belligerent occupation"