What is designated by a “siege” is a technique consisting in isolating enemy forces by impeding in and out movement of weapons and ammunition, supplies and people, with the aim either to compel enemy forces to surrender, to contain them within a particular location or to gain control over an area. Encirclement and bombardment are constituent elements of sieges.
Sieges are not prohibited as such under IHL or international law. However, besieging parties must comply with the rules applicable to sieges, including those that address adverse impact on civilians, in particular humanitarian assistance and access they must benefit from, as well as the rules on the conduct of hostilities, affording protection and safeguards to civilians.
The prohibition on the starvation of civilians, the rules on humanitarian relief operations and the rules on evacuation of civilians are particularly relevant for an assessment of the impact of an encirclement leading to a siege.
See Access; Bombardment; Conduct of hostilities; Humanitarian assistance; Means of warfare; Methods of warfare; Objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.
OUTLINE
LEGAL SOURCES
Conduct of hostilities
Article 52.2 AP I (distinction)
Article 51(5)(b) AP I (proportionality)
Article 57 AP I (precautions in attack)
Article 58 AP I (precautions against the effects of attacks)
Rules 7 to 24 ICRC CIHL
Encirclement and ‘sieges as a whole’
Article 57(2) AP I
Rule 15 ICRC CIHL
The prohibition on the starvation of civilians
Article 54(1) AP I
Article 14 AP II
Rule 53 ICRC CIHL
Rules regulating humanitarian relief operations
Article 70 AP I
Article 18 AP II
Rule 55 ICRC CIHL
Evacuations
Article 15 GC I
Article 18 GC II
Article 17 GC IV
Common Article 3(2) GC I-IV: encourages parties to non-international armed conflicts to enter into agreements to give effect to the other provisions of the conventions, including these on evacuations
Rule 109 ICRC CIHL
Article 57(1) AP I
Article 58(c) AP I
Article 51(7) AP I
Article 52.2 AP I (distinction)
Article 51(5)(b) AP I (proportionality)
Article 57 AP I (precautions in attack)
Article 58 AP I (precautions against the effects of attacks)
Rules 7 to 24 ICRC CIHL
Encirclement and ‘sieges as a whole’
Article 57(2) AP I
Rule 15 ICRC CIHL
The prohibition on the starvation of civilians
Article 54(1) AP I
Article 14 AP II
Rule 53 ICRC CIHL
Rules regulating humanitarian relief operations
Article 70 AP I
Article 18 AP II
Rule 55 ICRC CIHL
Evacuations
Article 15 GC I
Article 18 GC II
Article 17 GC IV
Common Article 3(2) GC I-IV: encourages parties to non-international armed conflicts to enter into agreements to give effect to the other provisions of the conventions, including these on evacuations
Rule 109 ICRC CIHL
Article 57(1) AP I
Article 58(c) AP I
Article 51(7) AP I
CASES AND DOCUMENTS
ICTY, Prosecutor v. Radovan Karadzic, Trial Chamber, paras 4606-4635
ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Galic, Trial Chamber, Judgement and Opinion, paras 208-597IC
J, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, para. 95
Human Rights Committee (2018), General Comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life, UN Doc CCPR/C/GC/36, 30 October 2018, paras 63 and 64
Syria, Report by UN Commission of Inquiry (March 2017)
Syria, the Battle for Aleppo
Gaza, Health Situation in the Gaza Strip
The armed conflict in Syria
Yemen, UN Report on the Armed Conflicts since 2014
ACHPR, Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda
Iran/Iraq, UN Security Council Assessing Violations of International Humanitarian Law
ICRC 2015 Report on International Humanitarian Law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts, paras 256-264
ICRC, Explosive Weapons With Wide Area Effects: A Deadly Choice in Populated Areas, ICRC, Geneva, January 2022, in particular p. 146
Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences arising from the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, Final Revision, June 2022
ICRC, Statement - War in Cities; What is at Stake?
ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Galic, Trial Chamber, Judgement and Opinion, paras 208-597IC
J, Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, para. 95
Human Rights Committee (2018), General Comment No. 36 (2018) on article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the right to life, UN Doc CCPR/C/GC/36, 30 October 2018, paras 63 and 64
Syria, Report by UN Commission of Inquiry (March 2017)
Syria, the Battle for Aleppo
Gaza, Health Situation in the Gaza Strip
The armed conflict in Syria
Yemen, UN Report on the Armed Conflicts since 2014
ACHPR, Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda
Iran/Iraq, UN Security Council Assessing Violations of International Humanitarian Law
ICRC 2015 Report on International Humanitarian Law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts, paras 256-264
ICRC, Explosive Weapons With Wide Area Effects: A Deadly Choice in Populated Areas, ICRC, Geneva, January 2022, in particular p. 146
Political Declaration on Strengthening the Protection of Civilians from the Humanitarian Consequences arising from the use of Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas, Final Revision, June 2022
ICRC, Statement - War in Cities; What is at Stake?
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
AKANDE Dapo and GILLARD Emanuela-Chiara, Oxford Guidance on the Law Relating to Humanitarian Relief Operations in Situations of Armed Conflict, Section G.2, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2016.
DINSTEIN Yoram, Siege Warfare and the Starvation of Civilians, in Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict: Challenges Ahead; Essays in Honour of Frits Kalshoven, Astrid Delissen & Gerard Tania eds, 1991, pp. 145-152.
GILLARD, Emanuela-Chiara, Proportionality in the Conduct of Hostilities: The Incidental Harm Side of the Assessment, Research Paper, Royal Institute of International Affairs, October 2010, pp. 9–1.
GILLARD Emanuela-Chiara, Sieges, the Law and Protecting Civilians, Chatham House Briefing, International Law Programme, June 2019.
HAMPSON, Françoise, ‘A Terminological Issue: What Is A Siege?’, in College of Europe (2015), ‘Proceedings of the Bruges Colloquium, Urban Warfare’, 16th Bruges Colloquium, Vol. 46, 2016, pp. 91-94.
NIJS Maxime, Humanizing siege warfare: Applying the principle of proportionality to sieges, International Review of the Red Cross, 2020, 102 (914), pp. 683-704.
QUÉGUINER Jean François (2006), ‘Precautions under the Law Governing the Conduct of Hostilities’, International Review of the Red Cross, 2006, 88 (864) pp. 793-821.
RIORDAN Kevin, ‘Shelling, Sniping and Starvation: the Law of Armed Conflict and the Lessons of the Siege of Sarajevo’, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, Vol. 41 (2), 2010, pp. 149-178.
VAN DEN BOOGAARD Jeroen and VERMEER Arjen, ‘Precautions in Attack and Urban and Siege Warfare’, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 20, 2017, pp. 163–198.
WATTS Sean, ‘Humanitarian Logic and the Law of Siege: A Study of the Oxford Guidance on Relief Actions’, International Law Studies, Vol. 94, 2019, pp. 1-48.
DINSTEIN Yoram, Siege Warfare and the Starvation of Civilians, in Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict: Challenges Ahead; Essays in Honour of Frits Kalshoven, Astrid Delissen & Gerard Tania eds, 1991, pp. 145-152.
GILLARD, Emanuela-Chiara, Proportionality in the Conduct of Hostilities: The Incidental Harm Side of the Assessment, Research Paper, Royal Institute of International Affairs, October 2010, pp. 9–1.
GILLARD Emanuela-Chiara, Sieges, the Law and Protecting Civilians, Chatham House Briefing, International Law Programme, June 2019.
HAMPSON, Françoise, ‘A Terminological Issue: What Is A Siege?’, in College of Europe (2015), ‘Proceedings of the Bruges Colloquium, Urban Warfare’, 16th Bruges Colloquium, Vol. 46, 2016, pp. 91-94.
NIJS Maxime, Humanizing siege warfare: Applying the principle of proportionality to sieges, International Review of the Red Cross, 2020, 102 (914), pp. 683-704.
QUÉGUINER Jean François (2006), ‘Precautions under the Law Governing the Conduct of Hostilities’, International Review of the Red Cross, 2006, 88 (864) pp. 793-821.
RIORDAN Kevin, ‘Shelling, Sniping and Starvation: the Law of Armed Conflict and the Lessons of the Siege of Sarajevo’, Victoria University of Wellington Law Review, Vol. 41 (2), 2010, pp. 149-178.
VAN DEN BOOGAARD Jeroen and VERMEER Arjen, ‘Precautions in Attack and Urban and Siege Warfare’, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 20, 2017, pp. 163–198.
WATTS Sean, ‘Humanitarian Logic and the Law of Siege: A Study of the Oxford Guidance on Relief Actions’, International Law Studies, Vol. 94, 2019, pp. 1-48.