Reducing the Human Cost of Large-Scale Military Operations

Abstract Large-scale military operations are rarely short, sharp, or decisive affairs. They often devolve into a protracted series of battles marked by severe human and material attrition, resulting in chaos, death, destruction, widespread suffering, and deprivation. This toll impacts not just the warring parties but also the civilian population, humanitarians, and the natural environment, with effects lasting long after the fighting stops. Armed conflicts, even large-scale ones, are not inevitable. As International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric has emphasized, States have a responsibility to maintain peace and prevent war. They must focus on conflict prevention and ensure their “preparedness” doesn’t become a self-fulfilling prophecy. When war does break out, international humanitarian law (IHL), which was codified in the aftermath of high-intensity armed conflicts, applies to all conflicts and all parties must comply, regardless of the scale, intensity, or domain. As part of its international mandate to work for the faithful application of IHL, including States’ obligations to prevent IHL violations and protect those affected by armed conflict, the ICRC seeks to draw States’ attention to the need to anticipate and minimize the human cost of armed conflict. In this chapter, the authors highlight some of the unique circumstances generated by “large-scale combat operations” which have been the recent focus in the United States and among some other States. It also speaks to some nonexhaustive considerations for those directed with preparing for and, in the worst case, conducting such operations, including in the Asia-Pacific region.