LEGAL ASPECT OF URBAN WARFARE. SOME REMARKS IN THE LIGHT OF THE 2016 NEW URBAN AGENDA

Agnieszka Szpak

Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7601-1230

Abstract

Habitat III and its result, the New Urban Agenda of 2016, gave an opportunity to remind and confirm the rules of international humanitarian law that regulate the conduct of armed conflicts and protection offered to the victims of war. In the context of urban warfare such rules include an obligation of the parties to a conflict to locate military objectives at a sufficient distance from densely populated areas in order to protect them from the effects of attacks on military targets. This article examines the interaction between war and cities, or to put it more broadly, urban areas. It concentrates on the chal-lenges posed by urban warfare, especially the ones indicated by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in its recommendations to Habitat III. The aim of this article is to answer the question whether the international humanitarian law sufficiently regulates urban warfare and whether it ensures effective protection of civilians – city dwellers. Has the New Urban Agenda accommodated the ICRC’s recommendations?

Keywords:

city, urban warfare, international humanitarian law, New Urban Agenda