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Reprisal

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Not to be confused with a reprise
Reprise
In music a reprise is the repetition or return of the opening material later in a composition such as occurs in the recapitulation of sonata form, though it originally was simply any repeated section, such as is indicated by beginning and ending repeat signs...

, or with a reappraisal.

In warfare, a reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of the laws of war

Laws of war

The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...

to punish an enemy who has already broken them. A legally executed reprisal is not an atrocity.

To be legally justified, a reprisal may be directed only against the party carrying out the original violation, may be carried out only as a last resort after formal notice of the planned reprisal having been given, must be proportionate to the original violation, must have the aim of persuading the original violator to comply with the legally accepted behavior in future, and must not continue after the illegal behavior ends.

Circumstances usually dictate that reprisals may be taken only against people guilty of the original violation. However, there is always a probability that the reprisals will themselves be viewed as war crimes, risking a vicious circle

Virtuous circle and vicious circle

A virtuous circle or a vicious circle is a complex of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop. A virtuous circle has favorable results, and a vicious circle has detrimental results...

of violations by both sides.

All four Geneva Conventions

Geneva Conventions

The Geneva Conventions consist of four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war. The singular term Geneva Convention refers to the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of World War II, updating...

prohibit reprisals against, respectively, battlefield casualties, shipwreck survivors, prisoners of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

and civilian

Civilian

A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces. The term is also often used colloquially to refer to people who are not members of a particular profession or occupation, especially by law enforcement agencies, which often use...

s, as well as certain buildings and property. An additional 1977 protocol extends this to cover historic monuments, works of art, and places of worship.

In the United States military, the lowest ranked commander who may authorize a reprisal is a general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank. The term or equivalent is used by nearly every country in the world. General can be used as a generic term for all grades of general officer, or it can specifically refer to a single rank that is simply called general.-All general officer...

in command of a theater

Theater (warfare)

In warfare, a theater or theatre is defined as a specific geographical area of conduct of armed conflict, bordered by areas where no combat is taking place....

.

Etymology

The word came from French, where it originally meant "act of taking back", for example, raiding back the equivalent of cattle lost to an enemy raid.

Reprisal

Etymology

See also