Deterring the Use of Human Shields
Secure Canada is advancing legislation to deter and sanction the use of civilians as human shields, a war crime employed by terrorist organizations around the world.
The Proposal
In May 2021, Secure Canada's predecessor organization, the Canadian Coalition Against Terror, and the Macdonald-Laurier Institute published Protecting Innocents in Combat, a legislative proposal authored by Sarah Teich and Danny Eisen to deter and sanction the use of civilians as human shields under Canadian law. The proposal would give Canada dedicated tools, including sanctions, to hold accountable those who deliberately endanger civilians by embedding military operations among them.
From Research to Reform
The use of human shields has only grown more salient since the proposal was published, most visibly in Hamas's systematic embedding of its operations among civilians in Gaza. Secure Canada is engaging parliamentarians to introduce the proposal in Parliament and carry it through the parliamentary process.
Legislating matters because the use of human shields is designed to be cost-free. By hiding behind civilians, terrorist organizations force democracies into an impossible choice: hold fire and reward the tactic, or act and be blamed for the deaths the shield-user engineered. Dedicated legislation would attach real consequences, including sanctions, to the practice itself, placing responsibility for civilian harm where it belongs: on those who deliberately put civilians in the line of fire. It would also align Canada with the United States, which has already enacted its own legislation sanctioning the use of human shields, and position Canada to press its allies to do the same.