Panel weighs whether international law can civilize conflicts

University faculty and media professionals participated yesterday in a Wilson School panel discussion called "Civilizing War," inspired by a photography exhibit of the same name located on the basement level of Robertson Hall.

Wilson School Dean Anne-Marie Slaughter '80 moderated the event, which featured politics professor Gary Bass, Newsday correspondent Roy Gutman and photographer Ron Haviv.

Bass opened the discussion by arguing that war could — and should — be civilized.

He said victory in war depends on winning hearts and minds, not on brute force. "If you have a reputation for being ruthless off the field of battle, people are less likely to want to surrender to you," he said.

Bass said international law — particularly treaties like the 1949 Geneva Convention — provides a framework of norms and guidelines to control the violence of war.

He added that increasingly precise military hardware makes more humane war possible. "We are in possession of the technology to fight in accordance with international norms," he said.

Gutman, however, voiced skepticism that war could ever be made civilized, citing a long history of wartime atrocities. He also noted that the most powerful nations, which are most likely to commit human rights violations, also control international law.

"One of the biggest contradictions about the laws of war is who writes them and who carries them out," Gutman said.

He said bringing human-rights violators to justice is nearly impossible, because violations of humanitarian law are "committed on behalf of governments," and governments will always protect their own citizens.

Although international tribunals and international criminal courts "set the precedent" for civilized wars, Gutman said he worries their powers are too limited to make a difference. He called on journalists, academics and the public to draw attention to international wartime norms and demand adherence to them.

"The news media's job really should be that of a watchdog. We should be spotting the violations as they occur," Gutman said. "Where the public comes in ... is to come up with ideas and to encourage the government to act."

Haviv, who contributed four photographs of the ethnic conflict in Bosnia to the "Civilizing War" exhibit, said journalists and photographers were already publicizing wartime atrocities, but that the public in America and elsewhere ignored them.

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"As photographers, some of us are wondering if it is really worth [risking our lives] if the public just isn't paying attention," Haviv said.

"Nine times out of 10," he said, governments ignore the efforts of journalists to bring human rights abuses to light.

He urged the audience to become more knowledgeable about conflicts around the world.

"If you, as the public, are not educated about [war crimes], then the people in power are not pressured to respond," he said.

The photography exhibit in Robertson includes over 20 pictures of civilians scarred by wartime violence. Subjects range from the Holocaust, to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, to the genocide in Rwanda.

A placard hanging alongside the images states that they serve as "reminders both of the reality of war and of the precariousness of efforts to restrain it."

One of Haviv's photographs shows a Bosnian Muslim woman trying to save her husband, who has just been wounded by the militant group known as Arkan's Tigers, as men with guns stand nearby. An adjacent image shows the woman's lifeless body lying on top of her husband's.

After years of experience with such brutal scenes, Gutman said he isn't optimistic about the possibility of civilizing war.

"I'd like to have a different view of international law," he said. "The U.S. is right at the heart of this move toward laws civilizing war, but it is also right at the heart of this move in the other direction."

— Includes reporting by Princetonian Staff Writer Sophia Ahern Dwosh.