Amnesty International warned today that bombing power plants in Iran, as threatened by US President Donald Trump, would have “devastating consequences” for millions of civilians, which would constitute, under international law, war crimes.
For this reason, the non-governmental organization (NGO) defending human rights argued that Trump “must withdraw deeply irresponsible threats of acts that would cause catastrophic harm to millions of civilians”.
And it specifies that such damages would affect “the human rights to life, water, food, healthcare and a decent standard of living”.
“Carrying out such attacks would have devastating long-term consequences and would seriously undermine the international legal framework designed to protect civilians in times of war.”said Senior Director of Research, Awareness, Policy and Campaigns, Erika Guevara-Rosas, in a statement.
On March 21, Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to the Islamic Republic to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, warning that the United States would “destroy” Iranian power plants, “starting with the largest one,” if Iranian authorities did not comply.
Tehran responded that it would retaliate, targeting the “power plants of the occupying regime (United States) and the power plants of countries in the region that supply electricity to US bases, as well as the economic, industrial and energy infrastructures in which the Americans hold shares”, if Trump carried out his threat.
Two days later, on March 23, Trump stated on social media that talks had taken place with Iranian authorities with the aim of “reducing hostilities” across the Middle East, which is why he had ordered “a five-day postponement” of attacks on Iranian energy facilities.
Erika Guevara-Rosas highlighted that “the decision not to pursue these attacks must be based on the United States’ obligations under international humanitarian law to avoid harm to civilians, and not on the outcome of political negotiations”.
And he stressed that, in turn, “the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran must also withdraw their threats of retaliation with attacks on power plants used by the United States and Israel, as well as economic, industrial and energy infrastructure in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) States”.
“They must also put an end to all illegal attacks on energy infrastructure and desalination facilities in GCC States”he added, explaining that these “are essential to guarantee the supply of drinking water to millions of civilians in an arid region”.
Finally, the Amnesty official argued that Iran must also “put an end to illegal attacks on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz” and “immediately restore full Internet access” in the country.
“Intentional targeting of civilian infrastructure, such as power plants, is generally prohibited. Even in the limited cases where they qualify as military targets, a party may not attack power plants if doing so would cause disproportionate harm to civilians.”he argued.
“Given that such power plants are essential to meeting the basic needs and livelihoods of tens of millions of civilians, attacking them would be disproportionate and therefore illegal under international humanitarian law and could constitute a war crime.”he insisted.
Guevara-Rosas described the scenario that follows the destruction of power plants in a country.
“Water pumping stations would stop working, drinking water would become scarce and preventable diseases would spread; hospitals would run out of electricity and fuel, forcing the cancellation of surgeries and the shutdown of life support machines; food production and distribution networks would collapse, worsening hunger and causing widespread food shortages; and many businesses would also close, with devastating economic consequences, including mass unemployment.”summarized.
“Causing catastrophic damage to civilian electrical capacity – at a time when the deliberate and prolonged internet shutdown by Iranian authorities has already left Iran’s population isolated – would sever people’s last remaining connection to the outside world, including access to satellite television, at a time of extreme danger.”warned the director of Amnesty International.
Lusa
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