"Indiscriminately striking" civilians is a "war crime" that "violates international humanitarian law”. These were the words of Pope Francis this morning in his annual address to diplomats. While citing the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, the Pontiff insisted that his call for a "ceasefire" must be understood for "all the hot fronts" on the planet. The Pope spoke for three-quarters of an hour to diplomats accredited to the Vatican, stressing that the October 7 Hamas attack in southern Israel was a "heinous" act of "terrorism and extremism" and renewing his call for the immediate release of those still held by militants in Gaza. In linking the two major conflicts in the world today, Francis said modern warfare often fails to distinguish between military and civilian targets. "There is no conflict that does not in some way end up indiscriminately affecting" the civilian population, said the Pontiff according to whom "the events in Ukraine and Gaza are clear evidence of this. We must not forget that serious violations of international humanitarian law are war crimes, and that it is not enough to report them, but it is also necessary to prevent them”. For Francis, there is also "a need for a greater effort by the international community to defend and implement humanitarian law, which seems to be the only way to guarantee the defense of human dignity in situations of war”.
|