Attack on Titan: The Final Season is finally upon us. With the first half of it now completed we are left in anticipation in how it finally wraps up. Attack on Titan’s (“AoT”) 16 episodes covered a lot of ground and began to connect plot lines laid in prior seasons and caused some crazy shockwaves in terms of character arcs. More importantly, these 16 episodes offered up many great opportunities to discuss international humanitarian law issues and how we should go about approaching them. This article is the first of many that will be written about this show and for now the articles will focus on this current season. Before we dive into the deeper issues, we have to talk about the parties in play and the conflicts that exist and what kinds of laws apply to the different conflicts.
The Parties in Play
AoT has a lot of characters and factions within the show that makes it hard to track. However, AoT’s most recent season deblurred the lines of characters and factions which makes it easier to discuss. For this article, I will remain high level to talk about the groups and in follow up articles I will go deeper to analyze the different situations, individuals. This season there are four main factions that exist within AoT: the Marleyans, the Yeagerists, the Eldians, and the Hizuros. Going forward it is important to know what requirements have to be met for a party to be considered a state. Under the Montevideo Convention a state exists when it has a: a) permanent population; (b) defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with other states. Therefore, Marley, the Eldian Empire, and Hizuro all are states under this rubric.
A. The Marley Empire
The Marley Empire acts as the central antagonist throughout the season. Marley co-existed on the central continent with Eldia and through its continued success in the Great Titan Wars acquired more power and territory; thus, it was able to overtake the Eldian Empire as the central power on the continent. Due to the power imbalance, the Eldians relocated to Paradis Island to prevent further losses. Marley prevented the Eldians from expanding by continually creating titans and depositing them on the island as a form of revenge for Eldia’s actions during the Great Titan War. Marley maintains a powerful army that is technologically superior to the opposing states and uses powerful titans as tools to subjugate their opponents and those on Paradis Island. It is shown to have tanks, machine guns, planes, and an extensive navy. Marley remains one of the most powerful states in the AoT universe and other foreign states are wary of angering it in fear of retaliation. Because Marley is a sovereign state and is engaged against Eldia its actions fall under rules governing international armed conflicts (IAC). Marley’s actions against the Yeagerists hold it to the rules required by Non-international Armed Conflict (NIAC).
B. The Eldian Empire
The Eldian Empire acts as the central protagonist for this season. The Eldian Empire’s last bastion is located on Paradis Island. Originally, Eldians shared the central continent with the state of Marley. However, due to their continual losses during the Great Titan Wars, King Fritz moved the state to Paradis Island which shielded them from harsher losses. The Eldians on Paradis Island were ignorant of this background because of King Fritz’ action of erasing every citizens memory pertaining to Marley and the past wars. However, the remaining Eldians on Marley were stigmatized, marked, and treated as a sub-class and were used to create titans that helped contained the Eldians on Paradis Island. The Eldian Empire exists behind three central walls designed to protect them from titan attacks. Their technology and military forces are underdeveloped compared to Marley and other foreign states. Its military forces are subdivided into three distinct units. First, the Survey Corps acts as the exploratory arm of the military looking for new, habitable territory while also eliminating titans they encounter. Second, the Garrison acts as the central defense component of Eldia and maintains the defenses of the three central walls protecting the citizenry. Lastly, the Military Police Brigade exerts central authority over the citizens within the walls. In this season, the Eldian Empire becomes an international player when it begins to engage Marley in multiple skirmishes via its military. The Eldian Empire’s international involvement beholds it to rules governing IAC. It’s actions against the Yeagerists hold it to the rules required by NIAC.
C. The Yeagerists
The Yeagerists are a new faction created out of the defectors from the Eldian Empire’s three military units. They came onto the scene this season. The Yeagerists belong to no state and are actively claiming to try and establish a “New Eldian Empire” in place of the current Eldian Empire. The Yeagerists operate centrally out of Paradis Island but have units within Marley’s borders. Although the Yeagerists are new to the conflict, they have quickly amassed power by destabilizing the current Eldian Empire, killing many Marleyan government officials and civilians, and acquiring some of the most powerful titans within Marley’s arsenal. The Yeagerists do not comprise a state and are thus operating as a domestic terrorist group within the Eldian borders on Paradis Island. This designation holds that when they engage other states it is guided by NIAC principles.
D. The Hizuro Nation
Prior to the Great Titan War the states of Eldia and Hizuro were allies. Hizuro maintained a presence in Eldia via a son of a Hizuru feudal lord who was close to then King Fritz. This son would go on to head the Azumabito clan which in turn would become connected to the Ackerman clan – both which are immune to King Fritz’ titan ability. Hizuro remained dormant throughout the series and didn’t become a player until its ambassador to Eldia agrees to help the Eldian empire combat Marley. Hizuro does not enter any conflict with Marley or Eldia with its military units. However, Hizuro’s support is nuanced and intentionally behind the scenes. Yet its financial involvement and active support of Eldia then the Yeagerists brings them in as a key faction. Their actions will be guided by NIAC principles when with the Yeagerists. However, their actions will be governed by IAC if they engage in hostilities against Marley or the Eldian Empire.
The Present Types of Conflicts
A. International Armed Conflict
International armed conflict or IAC is the most straightforward classification of conflicts. Under Common Article 2 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions IAC occurs when two sovereign states enter an inter-state conflict with one another. This status is affirmed even if one of the states in the conflict does not declare “war.” It also applies to situations when one sovereign state partially or totally occupies territory of another sovereign state regardless if the occupation doesn’t include violence. Additional Protocol I extended the IAC definition to armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination, alien occupation or racist regimes in the exercise of their right to self-determination. Ultimately, when analyzing if an IAC is occurring, we look to actual events occurring on the ground. No formal declaration or conflict threshold is required to establish the creation of an IAC. Within AoT this is the primary conflict that exists between Marley and the Eldian Empire. Both states actions are then governed by the Geneva Convention and other central governing documents.
B. Non-international Armed Conflict
A non-international armed conflict or NIAC occurs when a sovereign state is involved in an armed conflict with a non-governmental group (think terrorist group). The protections and responsibilities are laid out in Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Unlike IAC, there is a threshold of conflict that has to be reached in order to distinguish NIAC from internal disturbances like riots, banditry, etc. This distinction is adopted from both Additional Protocol II 1(2) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslovia’s The Prosecutor v. Dusko Tadic case. The first threshold that has to be passed is the minimum form of conflict. To be a NIAC it has to be of such a collective character that the government is obligated to use military forces to counteract the insurgency. Second, the non-governmental groups have to be considered “parties to the conflict” meaning that they have a command structure and have the capacity to conduct military operations. APII Art. 1(1) offers a slightly different analytical framework for NIAC: “which take place in the territory of a High Contracting Party between its armed forces and dissident armed forces or other organized armed groups which, under responsible command, exercise such control over a part of its territory as to enable them to carry out sustained and concerted military operations.” Moving forward, NIAC is the form of conflict that the Yeagerists are engaged in with the Eldian Empire and Marley. In regard to actions between these groups, Common Article 3 and APII operate as the governing documents for handling issues.
Internationalized armed conflict is a subset of NIAC and occurs when a foreign state who is a non-party to the conflict provides material support to a party that is. The authorities that govern NIAC also are applicable to situations like this. For our purposes, this will cover Hizuro and its financial contributions to the Eldian Empire and then to the Yeagerists.
Conclusion
AoT has a lot of moving parts and can be confusing at times when trying to understand who is fighting who. This article endeavored to give a high-level gloss of the parties involved and the forms of conflicts that exist within the show presently. Further, this article provided the governing frameworks that will detail the responsibilities that the parties owe to each other and to the international community. However, these frameworks will not be the only laws discussed as states are accountable under many other treaties and under rules established through customary international law. The complexity of AoT and the many IHL violations committed will provide many articles to come. Please stay tuned for more!