How the movie Eye in the Sky Tests the Principle on Foreseeable Harm to Innocents Spoiler Alert: This paper discusses the plot and ending of Eye in the Sky (2015) in detail Introduction: The Hardest Case Gavin Hood’s 2015 film Eye in the Sky  is widely regarded as the most realistic depiction of modern drone warfare in popular cinema. Military lawyers and targeting specialists have praised its fidelity to the texture of real targeting decisions. It was the last major role of

1. What the Declaration Does The Declaration on Foreseeable Harm to Innocents establishes a clear and operational civilian-protection rule: Attacks shall not be launched where persons clearly identifiable as civilians are foreseeably at risk of death or serious injury, unless narrowly defined emergency conditions are met and all feasible alternatives have been exhausted. This rule includes an explicit avoidability gate . If harm to ascertainable civilians is both foreseeable

Introduction These Model Implementation Guidelines are adopted alongside the Declaration on Foreseeable Harm to Innocents to assist States in developing domestic procedures that give effect to the existing IHL standards as articulated in the Declaration. The Guidelines are not binding but offer a framework that States may adopt or adapt according to their legal systems, military structures, and operational contexts. It is axiomatic that FHI must not and does not make new law.

The Core Principle "If you can see them, and you can spare them, you must spare them." On Modern Surveillance and Legal Obligation "The drone operator watches a family on a screen. The targeting cell has days of surveillance data. The collateral damage estimate predicts exactly how many civilians will die. Yet the law permits these deaths as 'unintended.' That word has lost all meaning." On the Shift from Intent to Avoidability "The question is not whether the commander 'inte

The Problem Modern warfare has transformed beyond recognition. Drones, satellites, and surveillance systems mean military commanders often know exactly who is in a building before they strike it. They can see families on screens. They can count children in courtyards. They can predict, with statistical precision, how many civilians will die. Yet the legal rules governing armed conflict were designed for a different era - one where commanders genuinely could not know who was b

Author's Foreword My interest in the protection of civilians in armed conflict stems from academic training and long-standing personal commitment. As a law student, I studied under Professor Colonel Gerald Draper, whose contributions to post-war war-crimes jurisprudence shaped modern interpretations of the Geneva Conventions and the principles of distinction and humanity. It was under his influence that I undertook a detailed study of the first Nuremberg Trial, reading the fu

Executive Summary Declaration on Foreseeable Harm to Innocents proposes a clear, operationally grounded standard: where ascertainable civilians - especially children - are foreseeably at risk of death or serious injury, an attack must not proceed unless narrowly defined emergency conditions are satisfied. This principle responds to a structural difficulty in contemporary interpretations of international humanitarian law (IHL). In conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Yemen, Somalia, Af

A Political Declaration on the Protection of Civilians from Foreseeable Harm in Armed Conflict   The States, international organisations, and other entities endorsing this Declaration, Recalling the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, Reaffirming the rules of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, which establish the fundamental principles of distinction, humanity, precaution, and pr

This article proposes "functional reconstruction" – a middle path between impossible UN Charter amendment and systemic collapse when Security Council veto paralysis blocks collective security. It advances three moves: re-anchoring functions in the General Assembly, enabling treaty-based enforcement coalitions, and developing a doctrine of veto abuse with consequences. This preserves legal continuity while restoring capacity without great-power consent.

The Principle of Foreseeable Harm to Innocents (FHI) is a doctrinal framework for civilian protection in armed conflict. It argues that existing humanitarian law already prohibits foreseeable harm where alternatives exist. FHI interposes an "avoidability gate" before proportionality—militaries must show no feasible alternative before attacking where civilians are at risk. If harm is foreseeable and preventable, it must be prevented. FHI holds militaries to what the law has al