Business Law： International humanitarian law

Summary

With the rising international conflict among nations, the need to protect individuals who no

longer or are not participating in hostilities is necessary. Therefore, the international law was

constituted to protect these individuals. International humanitarian law is a division of international

law that aims at limiting the effects that armed conflict has on persons who are not actively

participating in a war. International humanitarian law regulates and restricts the means and

methods of warfare accessible to combatants.

The main driving force behind this law is the extenuation of human suffering as well as

considerations of humanity. International humanitarian law, consists of a set of rules, developed by

custom or treaty, that seeks limits  the rights to warring parties in a conflict, to use means and

methods of ware fare of their own liking, as well as to protect objects/properties and persons that

are affected by armed warfare. IHL consists of two major conventions, The Hague Conventions

and the Geneva Conventions, as well as other subsequent case law, customary international law

and treaties. The law describes the responsibilities and conduct of neutral nations, belligerent

nations as well as individuals that find themselves in a warfare and are in relation to one another.

IHL is designed in such a way that it balances military necessity and humanitarian concerns,

subjects armed conflicts to the regulation of law through mitigating human suffering and limiting

destructive effects of conflicts.

Review

International humanitarian law is deeply rooted in the rules of ancient religions and

civilizations, which mainly holds the principle that warfare has always been subject to particular

customs and principles. Universal codification of IHL started din the 19

various nations have consented to a series of practical rules, which are based on the bitter

experience exhibited in modern warfare (Meron, 1989). As the International community has

immensely grown, a number of nations have contributed to the development of these rules, such

the International Humanitarian Law currently forms a universal body of the law (Fleck, 2008). The

international humanitarian law is only applicable to armed conflict, and doesn’t cover internal

disturbances such as secluded acts of violence.

IHL is only applicable once a war has begun, and equally to both parties irrespective of

who initiated the fight. IHL clearly distinguishes between non­international armed conflict and

international armed conflict. (Fleck, 2008) International armed conflicts refer to those conflicts

that at least two states are involved, and are a subject to wide range of rules, that includes the rules

set out in the Additional Protocol I and the 4 Geneva conventions. on the other side, non­

international armed conflicts refers to those conflicts that are restricted to a territory of a particular

single state, that either involves armed groups fighting each other or armed groups that are fighting

armed groups of armed dissidents (Forsythe, 2005). A number of limited laws are applicable to

specific internal armed conflicts and are plainly laid down in Article 3 that are common to the 4

Geneva conventions and in Additional Protocol II.

However, it is important though, to differentiate between human rights law and

international humanitarian law. Though some of the rules of these two segments appear similar,

they have separately been developed and are contained in different treaties (Fleck, 2008). For

example, human rights law applies in peacetime, unlike IHL that applies during armed conflicts,

and some of its provisions might be suspended during armed conflicts.

International Humanitarian Law principles and provisions protecting civilians

Distinction Principle