retaliation is a counterattack, normally practiced in response to some offense or injury, with the aim of obtaining compensation or revenge.
Reprisal is one of the most used coercive means, however, considered morally inadequate, as it makes it difficult to attempt a peaceful resolution of the case.
An act of retaliation is similar to that of revenge, as it is an act taken on the impulse of an offense uttered by a third person.
A well-known popular saying that could simplify the concept of reprisal would be “pay evil with evil”.
According to the Institute of International Law, in 1934, it was defined that the retaliation consists of “coercive measures, derogating from the ordinary rules of human rights, taken by a State as a result of acts offenses committed, to their detriment, by another State and intended to impose on the latter, by means of damage, respect for the law”.
That is, when a country is harmed or is the target of some illicit act by another nation, when it repays the injury, it is using reprisal
The reprisals are seen as blocking the maintenance of a state of peace between nations, as provided for in the ideal of international security described in the United Nations Charter.
Learn more about the meaning of UN.
Synonyms of reprisal
- Revenge
- outrage
- Retaliation
- effort
- rematch