On the Morality of Killing Human Shields

I argue that when an enemy deploys human shields in war, it is permissible to discount the shields' presence to some degree in planning the sort of military options the human shields were meant to deter. I reject two proposed rationales for this – the argument that only the user of human shields will be responsible for their deaths and the argument that the initial victim of a rights‐violation must bear the costs rather than transferring them to another innocent person. I propose a third, rule‐utilitarian rationale, which argues that the rule allowing for human shields to be discounted discourages their use and avoids giving a large tactical advantage to those who violate international law.