INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

source: https://sanaacenter.org/ypf/the-impact-of-war-on-civil-society-organizations-in-marib/

BY : KRISHNA KUMAR                            

• International Humanitarian Law (IHL) are the set of rules which are applied for humanitarian reasons to decrease the effects of armed arguments and conflicts.

Henry Dunant is called as the father of these laws.  It progresses gradually from 22 August 1864 onwards and then a meeting was held where the professionals of 13 States had met in Geneva and In that meeting, they approve the ten articles of the first Geneva Convention prepared by Henry Dunant.

Origin of IHL: -

 International humanitarian law was established in the rules of ancient civilizations and religions.

As earlier there always have been certain principals and custom for warfare, However the Universal codification of international humanitarian law began in the nineteenth century.

Some basic principles of IHL are as follows: -

It protects the persons who are not participating in the hostilities and block the methods of fighting a war and also protects those peoples who are not able and not allowed to take part in the war such as injured peoples and prisoners of the war.

International humanitarian law also protects the peoples who do not want to take part in the war, such as the civilian’s people and the medical personnel and surrendered etc.

It also protects those who are not allowed to take part in the war such as wounded peoples and prisoners of war.

It maintains military activities so that to maintain humanity and keep an eye over military.

It does not have any relation with the legitimacy of the conflicts and wars between two nations.

It follows the principle of military necessity that is to prevent necessity such as food, water, and medical equipment’s.

It prohibits cruel treatments and torture, taking of hostages, humiliating them, and disrespecting them.

There are some restrictions on weapons and tactics under IHL: -

1.   International humanitarian law prohibits all methods of performing war which fail to distinguish between people who are taking part in the fighting and who are not such as civilians and its purpose is to protect the civilians, and their property.

2.    It restricts the tactics that can cause excessive injuries or unnecessary suffering.

3.    It also restricts the weapons which have long-term damage to the environment such as nuclear weapons.

  So, this law had restricted the use of many weapons such as exploding bullets, chemical and nuclear weapons which will have a huge impact on them as well as their future generations, laser weapons that can make you blind and mines that blow off legs, feet, hand, and face such as anti-personnel mines because they stay in ground long after the war ends so these effect the civilians not the soldiers .

There are some other agreements that restrict the use of some specific weapons and military tactics which are threat for future generation and protect certain specific categories of people and goods.

These agreements include: -

. The 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, plus its two protocols;

. The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention;

. The 1980 Conventional Weapons Convention and its five protocols;

. The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention;

. The 1997 Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines;

REFERENCE: -

The International Committee of the Red Cross is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate.

Wikipedia

what_is_ihl.pdf (icrc.org)