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Orders which breach the Laws of War must be disobeyed, even if there is a strong tactical or strategic case for obeying them.
What do you think? The Laws of Armed Conflict and International Humanitarian Law are absolutes - but what if you would be punished for disobeying the orders?

• All orders which breach the Laws of Armed Conflict and/or International Humanitarian Law must be disobeyed.

• This is also stated in military law.

• You should not be punished for upholding the law.

• The Laws of War already take into account strategic and tactical necessity.

‘While a member of the military is required to obey all lawful orders, no member of the military is duty bound to follow an illegal order. In fact, the opposite situation usually applies, as in most countries military personnel are thought to have a positive duty not to follow illegal orders. Such a principle is firmly established in military law.’

See 2 of Hearts

Stephen Coleman, Military Ethics: an Introduction with Case Studies, (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013), p130.

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