Speaking before your Security Council UNHigh Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk noted that international law “prohibits” the use of devices on “innocent” people.
“It is a war crime to commit violent acts aimed at spreading terror among civilians,” he added, speaking at the meeting organized at the request of Algeria, after the simultaneous explosion of doorbells and portable radios in Lebanon that killed 37 people and injured 2,931.
UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo warned the Security Council that if violence between Israel, Palestinian Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah continues, then “we risk seeing a conflagration that could eclipse even the destruction and suffering we have witnessed so far.”
Turk stressed that “it is difficult to understand how, under these circumstances, such attacks could be in line with the basic principles of discrimination, proportionality and precautionary measures in attack, as defined by international humanitarian law.”
Research on device explosions
Turk called for an independent investigation into the explosions of communications devices in Lebanon and stressed that those who ordered and carried out the attacks must be held accountable, noting that “war has rules.”
“Attacking thousands of people at the same time, whether civilians or members of armed organizations, without knowing who is in possession of the devices in question, or where they are at the time of the attack, violates international humanitarian law,” he stressed.
“These attacks represent a new development in warfare, where communication devices are turned into weapons (…) This cannot be the new normal,” he insisted.
Sources: AMPE, AFP, Reuters
