According to field investigations and information received by HANA Human Rights Organization, following the destruction of, or damage to, a number of military, law-enforcement and security facilities belonging to the Islamic Republic of Iran during attacks by the United States and Israel, personnel and equipment from some of these institutions have been relocated to civilian sites in Sanandaj and other cities across Kurdistan. Preliminary findings indicate the use of educational, medical, residential-care, religious, sporting and other public facilities for such purposes.
In order to protect its sources and prevent the publication of incomplete or insufficiently verified information, HANA is not disclosing the names or precise locations of the facilities at this stage. Details concerning the relevant sites, the institutions deployed there and the circumstances of each case will be published separately once the verification and security-assessment process has been completed.
The direct resort to armed force between Iran, the United States and Israel constitutes an international armed conflict for the purposes of international humanitarian law, irrespective of whether a formal declaration of war has been issued. In this context, hospitals, schools, residential care homes for older persons, mosques and other public buildings remain civilian objects unless and for such time as they are used for military purposes.
The relocation of personnel, weapons, equipment, command functions or security operations to such sites may expose both the facilities themselves and the surrounding residential areas to attack. Such conduct is incompatible with the obligation of parties to the conflict to distinguish military objectives from civilians and civilian objects, and to take all feasible precautions to protect the civilian population against the effects of hostilities. State authorities and military commanders must not seek to protect their forces or equipment by transferring the risks of military operations to patients, older persons, children, students or residents of densely populated neighbourhoods.
The military use of medical and residential-care facilities raises particularly serious legal concerns. Such institutions, together with the persons present within them, benefit from specific protection under international humanitarian law. The deployment of military or security personnel and equipment in these locations may disrupt essential services and place at heightened risk individuals who may be unable to evacuate rapidly or protect themselves.
Should further investigation establish that civilians were deliberately kept in or around these facilities in order to deter attacks or shield military personnel, equipment or objectives, such conduct may fall within the prohibition on the use of human shields and, where the applicable material and mental elements are established, may constitute a war crime.
HANA Human Rights Organization calls for the immediate removal of all military, law-enforcement and security personnel, equipment and operations from civilian sites and densely populated areas. Commanders and public officials who ordered such deployments, or who were aware of them and failed to take reasonable measures to prevent their continuation, bear responsibility for taking immediate steps to safeguard civilians and prevent violations of international humanitarian law.
HANA further stresses that the military use of civilian sites does not relieve the United States or Israel of their own obligations under international humanitarian law. All parties remain bound by the principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution, and no party may carry out indiscriminate, disproportionate or otherwise unlawful attacks against such locations.