Despite prohibitions against the practice being absolute in international law, using innocent civilians as human shields is still all too common. Hiding assets and operations among civilian populations is a widespread tactic used by terror groups, hostile actors, and rogue nations. Indeed, such tactics are currently being deployed by Hamas amidst the latest clashes between Israel and Palestine.
Macdonald-Laurier Institute senior fellow Sarah Teich and Canadian Coalition Against Terror founder Danny Eisen provide an overview on the pervasive use of human shields and the international action to combat it in this new publication titled Protecting Innocents in Combat.
“What we establish in this publication,” says Teich, “is the need and ability for Canada, as a human rights leader, to heed international consensus, answer NATO’s call to action and pass legislation to deter and sanction the use of human shields.”
Eisen adds that “we need to do this both to support our international partners, but also to provide these tools to Canadian institutions trying to protect civilians and advance our national interest.”
Teich and Eisen have gone so far as to draft potential legislation modeled on existing U.S. Human Shields Act that Canada could straightforwardly adopt. The act would allow for the imposition of sanctions (specifically property-blocking and visa sanctions) to deter and combat human shields use.
Implementing such domestic legislation would help heed NATO’s call to action to spotlight and counter this problem, the authors argue, and would help demonstrate Canada’s leadership as a human rights advocate on the world stage.
