ABSTRACT
During war, civilians are subject to collateral and direct harm. By law and ethics, the principle of proportionality mitigates collateral harm and the principle of noncombatant immunity forbids direct harm. Each principle hopes to limit civilian death and injury significantly. During asymmetric war between a large and technologically superior state army and a small and far less sophisticated nonstate guerrilla organization, two phenomena weaken these principles. First, noncombatants are outwardly indistinguishable from the guerrillas who operate in their midst. As a result, state armies inevitably subject noncombatants to unnecessary and disproportionate harm as they attempt to destroy guerrilla forces. Second, state armies are redefining the status of civilians who provide war-sustaining aid. By law, civilians who do not directly participate in the hostilities retain their immunity despite the essential financial, educational, welfare, telecommunications and legal support they provide a military organization.
