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American Heritage Dictionary:
re·pri·sal |
[Middle English reprisail, from Old French reprisaille, from Old Italian ripresaglia, from ripreso, past participle of riprendere, to take back, from Latin reprehendere, reprēndere, to take hold of. See reprehend.]
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Roget's Thesaurus:
reprisal |
noun
Columbia Encyclopedia:
reprisal |
Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Politics:
reprisal |
An act by which a nation seeks, short of war, to redress a wrong committed against it by another nation. Boycotts and blockades are common forms of reprisal.
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reprisal |
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reprisal |
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reprisal |
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Wikipedia on Answers.com:
Reprisal |
A reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them.[1] Reprisals in the laws of war are extremely limited, as they commonly breached the rights of civilians, an action outlawed by the Geneva Conventions. It is not to be confused with retorsions, as these constitute unfriendly acts generally permitted by international law.
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The word came from French, where it originally meant "act of taking back", for example, raiding back the equivalent of cattle lost to an enemy raid.
Reprisals refer to acts which are illegal if taken alone, but become legal when adopted by one state in retaliation for the commission of an earlier illegal act by another state. Counter-reprisals are generally not allowed.
An example of reprisal is the Naulilaa dispute between Portugal and Germany in October 1914. After three Germans were mistakenly killed in Naulilaa on the border of the Portuguese colony of Angola (in a manner that did not violate international law),[2] Germany carried out a military raid on Naulilaa, destroying property in retaliation. A claim for compensation was brought by Portugal. The tribunal emphasized that before reprisals could be legally undertaken, a number of conditions had to be satisfied:
The German claim that it had acted lawfully was rejected on all three grounds.[3]
After 1945, as a result of the general prohibition on use of force imposed by Article 2(4) of the UN Charter, armed reprisals in time of peace are no longer legal, but the possibility remains of non-armed reprisals (also known as countermeasures)[4] as well as belligerent reprisals during hostilities when the law of international armed conflict (LOIAC) is violated.[5]
In the case of belligerent reprisals, apart from the three factors in the Naulilaa case, a warning must also be issued beforehand; once the other party has stopped violation of LOIAC, belligerent reprisals must also be terminated; and the decision to engage in belligerent reprisals must be taken by a competent authority.[5] In the United States military, the lowest ranked commander who may authorize a reprisal is a general in command of a theater.
All four Geneva Conventions prohibit reprisals against, respectively, battlefield casualties, shipwreck survivors, prisoners of war and civilians, as well as certain buildings and property. An additional 1977 protocol extends this to cover historic monuments, works of art, and places of worship.
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Look up reprisal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
Translations:
Reprisal |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - gengældelse, gengældelsesaktion, modforholdsregler
Nederlands (Dutch)
vergeldings- maatregel
Français (French)
n. - représailles
Deutsch (German)
n. - Vergeltungsakt
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - αντεκδίκηση, ανταπόδοση των ίσων, (πληθ.) αντίποινα
Italiano (Italian)
rappresaglia
Português (Portuguese)
n. - represália (f)
Русский (Russian)
ответный удар, месть
Español (Spanish)
n. - represalia
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - vedergällning, repressalier, beslagtagande
中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
报复, 报复性劫掠, 报仇
中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 報復, 報復性劫掠, 報仇
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 報復, 仕返し, 報復攻撃
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) إنتقام, إسترداد
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - פעולת תגמול, מעשה נקמה
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Copyrights:
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 | American Heritage Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Roget's Thesaurus. Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary Copyright © 1995 byHoughton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Antonyms by Answers.com. © 1999-present by Answers Corporation. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more |
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| Dictionary of Cultural Literacy: Politics. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; sign up free. Read more |
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| Random House Word Menu. © 2010 Write Brothers Inc. Word Menu is a registered trademark of the Estate of Stephen Glazier. Write Brothers Inc. All rights reserved. Read more |
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Rhymes. Oxford University Press. © 2006, 2007 All rights reserved. Read more | |
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| Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary. Collins Bradford's Crossword Solver's Dictionary © Anne Bradford, 1986, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2008 HarperCollins Publishers All rights reserved. Read more |
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| Wikipedia on Answers.com. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Reprisal. Read more |
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| Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
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