Recent attacks on refugee camps and hospitals, not to mention the withholding of humanitarian aid, demonstrate an absolute disdain for internationally accepted norms of conduct. The measure of human progress is whether such behavior is regarded – by anyone – as normal or inevitable.
MADRID – Even amid the chaos and catastrophes caused by war, there are internationally recognized limits on combatants’ behavior. And yet recent deliberate attacks on refugee camps and hospitals, in Syria and elsewhere, demonstrate an absolute disdain for basic humanitarian norms. Indeed, such behavior – which also includes obstruction of humanitarian aid and attacks on medical and humanitarian personnel – has become all too common.
MADRID – Even amid the chaos and catastrophes caused by war, there are internationally recognized limits on combatants’ behavior. And yet recent deliberate attacks on refugee camps and hospitals, in Syria and elsewhere, demonstrate an absolute disdain for basic humanitarian norms. Indeed, such behavior – which also includes obstruction of humanitarian aid and attacks on medical and humanitarian personnel – has become all too common.