Stardate 20011024.0633 (On Screen): It is inherent in warfare that people's human rights get violated. After all, people get shot and and even some of them die; property also gets destroyed in bombings or may catch stray bullets or shells during ground combat. While this may or may not be intentional in any given case, it is definitely unavoidable. Some people in Serbia are attempting to bring suit in the European Court of Human Rights, claiming that a specific bombing raid during the attacks which were made in Belgrade during the conflict over Kosovo was a violation of the Europe's Human Rights Charter. If it is found that it was, then the Charter is going to have to be amended to exempt some acts of war; it's preposterous to expect a war to be fought according to peacetime rules. While it might be nice if we never ever had to fight a war, sometimes it still seems to be necessary. This will be a test of the Court, which is holding hearings to decide if it has jurisdiction. Clearly it should rule that it does not.
Unfortunately, it's probably going to make that ruling but for the wrong reason: rather than deciding it has no jurisdiction over acts of war, it will decide that the Serbians were not signatories to the charter at the time. If that's the decision, it will be doubly wrong: it will indicate that wars might have to be fought according to peacetime rules (which is impossible) and it would also indicate that human rights are only reserved for Europeans living in nations which have signed the Charter, which would be a travesty. (discuss)
