27. The Law of Armed Conflict (International Humanitarian Law)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Turns
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
The Law

The international law of armed conflict (also known as international humanitarian law or the law of war) regulates the conduct of hostilities—including the use of weaponry—and the protection of victims in situations of both international and non-international armed conflict. Rooted in customary law, often of very great antiquity, since the late nineteenth century it has become one of the most intensively codified areas of international law. This chapter outlines the scope of application of the law; issues of personal status (combatants and civilians); the conduct of hostilities (methods and means of warfare, including choice of weapons and targeting operations); the protection of victims (sick, wounded, shipwrecked, prisoners of war, and civilians); and various ways of securing the law’s implementation and enforcement.

Treaties for Armed Conflict

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Kolb ◽  
Katherine Del Mar
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law

This chapter begins with a discussion of the importance of treaties in the law of armed conflict. Specifically, it presents seven reasons why the law of armed conflict is one of the branches of public international law that has been the most intensely codified through treaties. It then discusses treaties and international customary law; the main treaties on international humanitarian law (IHL); problems of ratification of IHL treaties; reservations to IHL treaties; legal relationships between IHL treaties; interpretation of IHL treaties; special agreements; denunciation of IHL treaties; and the legal effects of a breach of an IHL treaty.

3 Scope of Application of International Humanitarian Law

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kleffner Jann K
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
Scope Of Application ◽  
The Law ◽  
Humanitarian Values ◽  
The One

This chapter addresses the scope of application of international humanitarian law. International humanitarian law regulates, and as a rule applies in times of, armed conflicts. Accordingly, it is also referred to as the law of armed conflict or jus in bello. The three interchangeable terms denote the only branch of public international law that is specifically designed to strike a balance during armed conflicts between preserving humanitarian values, on the one hand, and considerations of military necessity, on the other by protecting those who do not or no longer directly participate in hostilities and by limiting the right of parties to the conflict to use armed force only to the amount necessary to achieve the aim of the conflict, which is to weaken the military potential of the enemy. While international humanitarian law specifically regulates situations of armed conflicts, it does not automatically supersede all other areas of public international law in the event of an armed conflict. The chapter then focuses on the law enforcement aspects, the continued relevance of rules of international law of peace during armed conflict, and the relevance of humanitarian law in peacetime and post-conflict military operations.

scholarly journals Issues of the theory of international humanitarian law in the context of integration and globalization

Legal Ukraine ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 36-43
Author(s):  
Viktor Bazov
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law ◽  
Further Development

The article discusses topical issues of the formation and further development of the theory of international humanitarian law. Explored the basic concepts of this area of humanitarian public law. For the first time, international humanitarian law is defined as a set of conventional and customary international legal norms that govern the law of armed conflict and human rights law. The processes of globalization of modern international relations, characterized by increasing influence of leading international organizations and crises in individual states, objectively affect the renewal and further development of the theory of international humanitarian law as one of the rapidly developing branches of public international law. New conceptual approaches to the modern definition of international humanitarian law, its philosophy and legal nature require a rethinking of scientific views as classics of international law, including the founder of the theory of natural law and modern science of international law Hugo Grotius, researcher of state interests in «just war» Thomas Hobbes and the founder of the «social contract», the sentimentalist Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the views of such prominent scholars as Immanuel Kant, Fedor Martens and Jean Pictet. Given the normative definition, «the law of armed conflict» and «the law of human rights» are two independent legal systems within the framework of international humanitarian law, which operate mainly in different periods: during armed conflicts or in peacetime, respectively. These legal systems, although closely interlinked within the framework of international humanitarian law, are still independent and relatively independent of each other, as they have features in the sources and mechanisms of implementation and control over compliance with their norms and principles. Key words: theory of international humanitarian law, international relations, state, international organization, international court.

scholarly journals Applicability of the international humanitarian law to the fight against the Islamic State during the 2013-2017 conflict in Iraq

2021 ◽  
Vol 200 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Krystian Mularczyk ◽  
Karolina Saska
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
The United States ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict

The article addresses the applicability of international humanitarian law during the armed conflict in Iraq in 2013-2017 waged against the Islamic State. The paper answers how to classify this conflict against the background of the law of armed conflict. The argumentation for considering it as a non-international conflict with the Islamic State and the Iraqi government as parties is presented. The discussed failure to recognize the Islamic State's status as a state within the meaning of international law does not classify the armed conflict as international. The classification has not been changed by the United States and allied states' intervention, which, as one at the invitation of the Iraqi government, does not mean qualifying the conflict as international. The article also discusses the scope of the norms of international humanitarian law that apply to the conflict in question. It primarily concerns Article 3 that is common to the Geneva Conventions and customary law. Protocol II supplementing the provisions of the Geneva Conventions will not apply as Iraq is not a signatory to it.

International Humanitarian Law on the Recruitment and Use of Informers and Collaborators

2019 ◽  
pp. 52-101
Author(s):  
Shane Darcy
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law

The law of armed conflict as it is applicable to the recruitment and use of collaborators is examined in Chapter 2. Although international humanitarian law is somewhat permissive regarding such use in principle, key rules within this body of law set certain limits by imposing restrictions on methods of recruitment and outlawing coerced collaboration of certain kinds. The chapter explores the drafting, application, and interpretation of the humanitarian law rules of relevance. It traces in detail the debates which occurred during the preparation of prominent treaties, including the 1899 and 1907 Hague Regulations, where considerable attention was given to the question of how such laws might be addressed to those persons motivated or compelled ‘to serve the enemy’. The legality of certain practices employed by those seeking to recruit collaborators are considered in light of prohibitions under international humanitarian law, such as that of ‘physical or moral coercion’ against protected persons and prisoners of war for purposes of gathering information.

scholarly journals The redirection of attacks by defending forces

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Tsvetelina van Benthem
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article examines the redirection of incoming missiles when employed by defending forces to whom obligations to take precautions against the effects of attacks apply. The analysis proceeds in four steps. In the first step, the possibility of redirection is examined from an empirical standpoint. Step two defines the contours of the obligation to take precautions against the effects of attacks. Step three considers one variant of redirection, where a missile is redirected back towards the adversary. It is argued that such acts of redirection would fulfil the definition of attack under the law of armed conflict, and that prima facie conflicts of obligations could be avoided through interpretation of the feasibility standard embedded in the obligation to take precautions against the effects of attacks. Finally, step four analyzes acts of redirection against persons under the control of the redirecting State. Analyzing this scenario calls for an inquiry into the relationship between the relevant obligations under international humanitarian law and human rights law.

scholarly journals Instytucjonalizacja współpracy w zakresie grobownictwa wojennego

2015 ◽  
pp. 88-103
Author(s):  
Joanna Szymoniczek
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The Public ◽  
Social Organizations ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Us ◽  
Special Protection

Resting places of fallen soldiers – war cemeteries – are monuments to soldiers’ heroism, and thus are of special significance not only for those who have lost their loved ones, but also for entire nations, countries and communities. Therefore, such cemeteries are created under the provisions of relevant authorities, and then put under the special protection of the public. These issues are closely regulated by international law established throughout the twentieth century. Cemeteries are protected by the state on whose territory individual objects are placed. However, the problem of cemeteries is more and more often the responsibility of social organizations. According to the international humanitarian law of armed conflict, specific tasks in this respect are assigned to the tracing services of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, who deal with the registry of exhumation, inhumation and body transfer, hold deposits, establish the fate of victims of war and issue death certificates. Institutions that deal with exploration, keeping records, exhumation of remains and the construction or revaluation of the graves of fallen citizens buried outside the borders of their own countries include the Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites, the German People’s Union for the Care of War Graves, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, the Austrian Red Cross (Österreichisches Schwarzes Kreuz), the American Battle Monuments Commission, the US Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad and the Italian Commissariat General for the Memory of Killed in War (Commissariato Generale per le Onoranze Caduti in Guerra). For political reasons, tasks related to war cemeteries are assigned to social organizations, because their actions are believed to be more effective and less bureaucratic than those of states.

Protecting the Environment from the Perspective of the Law of Armed Conflict

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 252-260
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Krzan
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law

Abstract The present study analyses climate change from the perspective of the law of armed conflict. Climate may be both a victim and a means of warfare. Arguably, the existing normative framework is broad enough to allow for accommodating climate change. It cannot be denied that the environment is easily harmed, or at least jeopardized in times of armed conflicts. Despite the obvious lack of explicit references in the instruments of international humanitarian law, it may be argued that it is possible to fit climate change in. The accompanying analysis addresses the respective potential and the ensuing hurdles.

14. The law of armed conflict

2019 ◽  
pp. 279-302
Author(s):  
Anders Henriksen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines those parts of international law that regulate how military operations must be conducted—jus in bello. It begins in Section 14.2 with an overview of the most important legal sources. Section 14.3 discusses when humanitarian law applies and Section 14.4 examines the issue of battlefield status and the distinction between combatants and civilians. Section 14.5 provides an overview of some of the most basic principles governing the conduct of hostilities while Section 14.6 concerns belligerent occupation and Section 14.7. deals with the regulation of non-international armed conflict. Finally, Section 14.8 explores the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law in times of armed conflict.

14. The law of armed conflict

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anders Henriksen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter examines those parts of international law that regulate how military operations must be conducted — jus in bello. It begins in Section 14.2 with an overview of the most important legal sources. Section 14.3 discusses when humanitarian law applies. Section 14.4 examines the issue of battlefield status and the distinction between combatants and civilians. Section 14.5 provides an overview of some of the most basic principles governing the conduct of hostilities while Section 14.6 deals with the issue of regulation of non-international armed conflict. Finally, Section 14.7 explores the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law in times of armed conflict.

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