International humanitarian law
December 11, 2006
International Law is the law that governs relationships between and among states. This statement, though generally true, has to be modified to take into account the fact that increasingly, International Law also governs some of the relationships between the State, on the one hand, and individuals on the other. This is especially true in regard to human rights law, where various international treaties and customary law specify rules of conduct on the part of the State.
International humanitarian law is that branch of International Law that addresses armed conflict. In essence, international humanitarian law seeks to influence the conduct of states during warfare, by laying down restrictions on what states may or may not do in the heat of the battle. It is concerned with the jus in bello.
Red Cross
Many, if not most, of today's rules on international humanitarian law can be traced back to the work of the Red Cross; for the International Committee of the Red Cross, and various Red Cross and Red Crescent entities have dedicated themselves to the dissemination and recognition of rules of international humanitarian law since Henri Dunant's time. Dunant had written the famous Un Souvenir de Solferino in 1862 after witnessing some of the atrocities of war in Italy, and this book, together with Dunant's activism, laid the foundation of the Red Cross in 1864.
Since that time, the work of the Red Cross, together with State cooperation, has prompted various treaties on humanitarian law. The Hague Rules of 1899, for example, have helped to set out some of the principles that should govern the use of weapons in warfare, and established the principle that weaponry should be limited to the extent required by military necessity. In the public mind, however, the main rules of humanitarian law are those that are now incorporated into the Geneva Conventions of 1949, and the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions.
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties that go into considerable detail about various aspects of warfare. The names of the treaties provide a general idea of their spheres of influence. They are:
The Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field;...
Author: Gleaner Reporter
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
