SIEGE WARFARE AND THE PROHIBITION OF INTENTIONAL STARVATION OF CIVILIANS: THE CONVERGENCE OF IHL AND BUDDHIST ETHICS

ABSTRACT Sieges and threatening the besieged population with starvation are methods of warfare as old as civilisation. While sieges are not explicitly prohibited under international humanitarian law (IHL), the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare has been prohibited since the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977. This article discusses whether Buddhist ethics can contribute towards and enhance the existing IHL guidance on the subject. Buddhist texts and philosophy clearly declare that one must avoid actions that cause suffering to oneself or others, and that this principle of ‘no-harm’ (ahimsā) is applicable even during a war. The Jātaka stories of the past births of the Buddha and other figures illustrate wrong action and its karmic consequences. The article analyses two Jātaka stories: the Ummagga Jātaka (no. 546) which describes a potential siege and the tactics used by the Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) Mahosadha to avoid it, and the Asātarūpa Jātaka (no. 100) which provides a moral judgement on the actual use of siege warfare in the former births of Suppavāsā and her son, the arhat (enlightened saint) Sīvali. The narratives are useful for discussion and teaching of IHL, particularly in Buddhist societies, as they not only emphasise responsibility for ones’ own actions but also provide psychological hope for spiritual progress based on the concept of intention.