The goneva convention considers willing human shields as enemy combatives, reguardless of sex or age. If someone willingly hides and supports an enemy they can then be treated as an enemy combatant.
And yes we do have wars, but if not for us everyone Im eiurope would be speaking German.
We are a warrior country, our whole 200 years of history have been about war. Look at the first 100 years. We fought the British, the French the American Indians and after that we fought each other in a terrible and costly civial war.
You make very interesting statements about human shields and the war. Could you cite excerpts from the convention that allow us to consider civilians participating in a living shield as combatants or war criminals?
The rule is 97 that discusses unwilling human shields only. Each country defines what is a combative and what is a protected citizen. Basically the US and other countries decided that any civilian who takes willing part in a military action is no longer a civilian but an enemy combatant. If they are unwilling then they are protected and the people responsible for putting them there can be charged with war crimes. During the US war with Vietnam, north Vietnam hid ordinance in plain site around hospitals, schools and major population centers. None were bombed but it started the debate about human shields, none in this example were willing, so they did not bomb the areas.
Think of it this way. A person forced to hide a military leader or sleep near a military target is innocent. They have done nothing wrong and no one expects them to refuse and die. Although a person who willingly does that is no different than a military soldier. They are using their life to thwart the enemy and protect military equipiment, just like a regular soldier does. That makes them no different than any uniformed soldier when it comes to rules of combat. An example would be someone standing in front of a sniper, willingly that is, how is that person any different than the sniper behind them? They both have the same goals.
Here is the US rules in willing human shields. Pay attention to this area.
he US Military Commissions Act (2009) amends Chapter 47A of Title 10 of the United States Code as follows:
§ 950p. Definitions; construction of certain offenses; common circumstances
(a) DEFINITIONS.In this subchapter:
(2) The term protected person means any person entitled to protection under one or more of the [1949] Geneva Conventions, including
civilians not taking an active part in hostilities
Willingly protecting military personnel or equipiment is taking part in hostilities.
Link to US article.
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_cou_us_rule1Link to GC rule 97
https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul_rule97While the practice of considering willing human shields is not in the GC charter, all rules of war set down by a country have to be approved by the GC.