From What Are They Saying, an excellent blog by Mary Madigan:
Jak King* has decided that the Australian petition to have the United Nations declare suicide bombings a crime against humanity is badly drafted. But the alternative he offers is also poorly considered. His petition would make a crime of the death of any civilian by any military action.The death of any civilian? Theres a big difference between accidental deaths and deaths caused by malicious intent. The former is not a crime. The latter is.
When civilians are not targeted in a military action, their deaths are unfortunate and accidental. When civilians are deliberately targeted, its a crime. The deaths of the villagers at My Lai was a crime. When a suicide bomber bypasses military targets to blow up the patrons of an ice cream store, that is also a crime.
Military action is inherently risky. If every death that resulted from military action were considered to be a crime, it would effectively make all military action illegal. Since these actions are often used to defend civilians against attacks by terrorists the result of this proposal would be more civilian deaths. This proposal is not only ill considered, it's potentially dangerous.
I couldn't say it any better than that...