Posted on 9:00 am | Posted in Print Responses

Individual Property and Unlawful Destruction:

An Expanded Compensation Model for Civilian Losses During Armed Conflict
By Bonnie Docherty
Suggested Bluebook citation: Bonnie Docherty, Individual Property and Unlawful Destruction: An Expanded Compensation Model for Civilian Losses During Armed Conflict, 49 Harv. Int'l L.J. Online 104 (2009), http://www.harvardilj.org/2009/03/online_49_docherty/.
Bonnie Docherty is a lecturer and clinical instructor at the International Human Rights Clinic in Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Program and a researcher for Human Rights Watch. She has done field missions researching the effects of war on civilians in many places, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Ethiopia, Darfur, Gaza, Lebanon, Israel, and Georgia. She also participated in the negotiations for the new Convention on Cluster Munitions, signed in December 2008. This article reflects her views alone.
Download Article
Share Article:
Delicious Digg Facebook Google Buzz MySpace reddit StumbleUpon Technorati Tumblr Twitter Yahoo! Buzz Email

Responding to Lea Brilmayer & Geoffrey Chepiga, Ownership or Use? Civilian Property Interests in International Humanitarian Law, 49 Harv. Int’l L.J. 413 (2008)*

Civilians have historically found it difficult to recover damages for property destroyed during armed conflict, but new legal bodies are now making compensation for such loss more feasible. In their article Ownership or Use? Civilian Property Interests in International Humanitarian Law, Lea Brilmayer and Geoffrey Chepiga argue that the international community must “plan for a future” that allows for monetary awards to civilian victims of property destruction. They contend that international humanitarian law (IHL) should determine the worth of property differently during times of war than during times of peace, and they propose that civilians should receive compensation for destroyed property based on its civilian use rather than its market value. The authors do not fully address, however, the realities of war’s destruction and the suffering it causes. Their model should be expanded to encompass individual as well as communal civilian property and to apply the compensation formula to all unlawful damage, not just deliberate destruction.

…

* This excerpt does not include citations. To read the entire article, including supporting notes, please download the PDF.

Read Article (PDF Format) --- [Get Adobe Reader]
Bonnie Docherty, Individual Property and Unlawful Destruction: An Expanded Compensation Model for Civilian Losses During Armed Conflict, 49 Harv. Int'l L.J. Online 104 (2009), http://www.harvardilj.org/2009/03/online_49_docherty/.