THE INVASION OF

KUWAIT
GULF WAR

SHRIJITA GADDAM
B.B.A;L.L.B
FACTS OF THE IRAQUI INVASION OF
KUWAIT
The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait was an operation conducted by Iraq on 2 August 1990, whereby it invaded
the neighboring State of Kuwait, consequently resulting in a seven-month-long Iraqi military occupation of
the country.
Iraq’s leader, Saddam Hussein, ordered the invasion and occupation of Kuwait with the apparent
aim of acquiring that nation’s large oil reserves, canceling a large debt Iraq owed Kuwait (where
Kuwait aided a lot of funding in form of loans to Iraq during the 1980 Iraq-Iran war) and expanding
Iraqi power in the region.
As the invasion began, columns of Iraqi tanks sped down the six-lane highway leading toward Kuwait City,
located about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of the Iraqi border. During the weeks following Iraq's invasion
of Kuwait, the Iraqi armed forces treated the Kuwaitis terribly. Thousands of people in Kuwait were arrested,
tortured, and killed. About 300000 residents fled the country. Iraqi soldiers randomly took civilians off the
streets of Kuwait City and held them for questioning. Anyone who was suspected of resisting Iraqi rule was
executed. For example, twenty-one Kuwait University professors were murdered for refusing to replace a
portrait of the emir of Kuwait with one of Hussein. Iraqi forces also arrested over two thousand Kuwaitis and
imprisoned them in Iraq. Many witnesses reported that the Iraqi forces set up "torture centers" to frighten and
extract information from the Kuwaiti people.
CONSEQUENCES OF THE INVASION
 The invasion and Iraq's subsequent refusal to withdraw from Kuwait by a deadline
mandated by the United Nations ( January 15,1991) led to a direct military intervention
by a United Nations-authorized coalition of forces led by the United States. These
events came to be known as the first Gulf War.
 After 43 days of continuous fierce bombardment in Kuwait, the Iraqis’
surrendered eventually resulting in the forced expulsion of Iraqi troops from Kuwait
and the Iraqis setting 600 Kuwaiti oil wells on fire during their retreat while thousands of
soldiers and civilians had been killed, tortured and infrastructure being severely damaged
which led to Iraq facing 13 years of UN backed sanctions.
 For Iraq, the invasion opened the door to decades of devastation. These sanctions so
impoverished the Iraqi state and its people with no oil export, no income while even
medicine was scarce and for the 39 million people who live in Iraq, life has not been easy
since 31 years.
 VIOLATIONS THAT TOOK PLACE:
GENEVA CONVENTION:
 The failure of Iraq to treat all prisoners of war while detaining civilians not in accordance with the internationally
recognized principles of humanitarian law, subjecting them to acts of violence, including ill-treatment, torture and summary
execution resulted to the grave violations of the Geneva Convention.
 Iraqi officials violated Article 27 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of
War (Fourth Geneva Convention) where both Iraq and Kuwait are parties to, by their inhumane treatment and acts of
violence against the Kuwaiti civilian population.
 Additionally, the public testimony of witnesses and victims has indicated that Iraqi officials violated Articles 31 and 32 of
the Fourth Geneva Convention by subjecting Kuwaiti civilians to physical coercion, suffering and extermination in order
to obtain information.
 The forcible use of civilians or other non-combatants as human shields also violates the prohibition on the taking of
hostages (Article 34 of the Fourth Geneva Convention)
 The Government of Iraq failed to provide full information on all Kuwaiti persons and third-country nationals abducted from
Kuwait between 2 August 1990 and 26 February 1991 who were still detained, and to free these persons in accordance with
its obligations under article 118 of the Geneva Convention relative to Prisoners of War and article 134 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention and its obligations under applicable Security Council resolutions.
  The Government of Iraq failed to search for the persons still missing and to cooperate fully with international humanitarian
organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, in this regard in violation of Article 63 of the Fourth
Geneva Convention.
ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL-I
 There is no doubt that civilian morale makes a contribution to military effort, but
that contribution is indirect and intangible, in contrast to the direct support that
conventional military objects lend. Armed attacks directed at civilian morale are
prohibited under international humanitarian law and are inimical to the purpose of
protecting civilians. The current prohibition on such practices is reflected in Article
51 of Protocol I, adopted in 1977.
 Additionally, The Iraqi officials also violated Article 54 of Additional Protocol I
as the acts of the Iraqi officials caused grave damage to the infrastructure of
Kuwait. Iraqi soldiers have looted with impunity in what appeared to be a
calculated attempt to destroy that nation. The Iraqi military has also been accused
of destroying buildings in Kuwait City in an apparent attempt to obliterate evidence
of atrocities committed against Kuwaiti citizens
 VIOLATIONS THAT TOOK PLACE:
HAGUE CONVENTION:
 The Officials of Iraq who are subject to the application of Customary laws of
wars, are guilty of War Crimes.
 Since the invasion and occupation of Kuwait, in violation of Articles 22, 23(e)
and (g) and 25 of the Hague Convention (No. IV. of Oct. 18, 1907)
Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land; Iraq has launched
surface to surface missiles at populated areas only for the purpose of instilling
terror. The bombardment of these areas served no military purpose and
constituted willful destruction of civilian population.
 AFTERMATH/ REMEDIES
 The U.N. Security Council declared on August 2, the very day of the invasion, that the Iraqi action of
ignoring the basic order of the international community was a violation of international law and
adopted Resolution 660, which required the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Iraqi
forces. Since Iraq ignored this resolution and did not withdraw from Kuwait, the U.N. Security Council
adopted on August 6 Resolution 661, which obligated member countries to take economic sanctions
against Iraq and Resolution 662 on August 9, which declared the invalidity of the annexation of Kuwait
by Iraq.
 In 1992 a United Nations commission formally delimited the Iraqi-Kuwaiti border in accordance
with a resolution of the UN Security Council passed in April 1991, which had reaffirmed the border’s
inviolability (incapable to be invaded). The commission’s findings were generally favorable to Kuwait,
moving the Iraqi border slightly to the north in the area of Safwān and slightly north in the area of the
contested Al-Rumaylah oil field and thereby giving Kuwait not only additional oil wells but also part
of the Iraqi naval base of Umm Qaṣr.
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