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Issue 30 (December 2011)
The guerrilla strikes back: a comment on Yvonne Chiu
about author
dr. Uwe Steinhoff
Assistant Professor
Department of Politics and Public Administration
University of Hong Kong
Pokfulam Road
Hong Kong
ustnhoff@hku.hk
text (PDF)abstract
Uwe Steinhoff, The guerrilla strikes back: a comment on Yvonne Chiu, Diametros 30 (December 2011)
In a recent article Yvonne Chiu argues that nonuniformed combat is impermissible. However, her argument that by fighting without uniforms nonuniformed guerillas coerce civilians into participating in the armed conflict and thus into surrendering their immunity (their right not to be attacked) fails: there is no coercion, no participation, and no surrendering of immunity. Yet even if this argument of hers were correct, it would still not show that such “coercion” would amount to a rights infringement. Moreover, even if it did, there are examples that show that such an infringement would sometimes be perfectly justified. Finally, if she were right that forcing civilians into a moral position that they have not accepted or chosen is absolutely wrong, then this would affect the moral status of uniformed combatants no less than it would affect the moral status of nonuniformed ones.
Key words: Yvonne Chiu, civilian, combatant, guerrilla, uniform, war
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