Member

Secondly, we live in a world where the Secretary-General of NATO is warning that we face the prospect of a major conflict with Russia by 2030. If that does indeed happen, we cannot go into such a conflict with our hands tied behind our backs. Russia is not a party to the ECHR, and we have seen how ruthlessly it prosecutes its wars. To be clear, I am absolutely not arguing that we should match Russian brutality, particularly given the appalling reports of the widespread use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and the barbaric treatment of civilians. However, this is not a binary situation with clearly delineated and neatly drawn lines of what constitutes right and wrong. Those who argue that it is black and white would have us believe that either you are in the ECHR and abide by it even during times of war or you act like the Russians have in Ukraine. I reject that binary classification entirely, for between these two positions there exists a huge grey area. I am arguing that, if we have any hope of fighting on a level footing in any future war, we cannot have the possibility of lawfare hanging over the heads of our soldiers.