Preface and acknowledgments page xiii
Table of cases xv
Tables of treaties, and Legislation xvii
List of Abbreviations xxi
Introduction 1
1 Historical Development of International Humanitarian Law 4
1. Introduction 4
2. Henri Dunant and the Battle of Solferino 5
3. The 1864 Geneva Convention 6
4. The Lieber Code 1863 7
5. The 1868 St Petersburg Declaration 8
6. The 1868 Additional Articles, 1874 Brussels Declaration, 1880 Oxford Manual 9
7. The 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions 10
8. The 1949 Geneva Conventions 13
a. Common Article 3 15
9. The 1977 Additional Protocols 16
a. Additional Protocol I, wars of national liberation and guerrilla fighters 17
b. Additional Protocol II 17
10. Other IHL instruments 19
11. The development of international criminal law – the ICTY and ICTR, the ICC, and the hybrid and ad hoc courts and tribunals 19
a. The International Criminal Court 20
b. The ad hoc Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda 23
c. Hybrid and ad hoc courts and tribunals 25
12. Conclusion 27
1. Introduction 29
2. The law of armed conflict: purpose, concepts, scope, application 29
a. The separation of jus ad bellum and jus in bello 30
b. Hague law and Geneva law 32
c. Terminology: wars vs. armed conflicts, law of armed conflict vs. international humanitarian law 32
d. Scope and application of the law of armed conflict 34
3. Sources of the law of armed conflict 36
a. Treaties 37
i. The treaty law distinction between international and non-international armed conflict 37
b. Custom 38
c. Other sources – soft law 40
4. The fundamental principles of the law of armed conflict 41
a. The principle of distinction 41
i. The principle of discrimination (prohibition on indiscriminate attacks) 43
b. Military necessity 43
c. The principle of proportionality 44
d. The prohibition on causing unnecessary suffering and
superfluous injury 45
e. The principle of neutrality 46
f. The principle of humanity 47
5. Conclusion 48
3 Types of armed conflicts 50
1. Introduction 50
2. International armed conflicts 51
a. Common Article 2 armed conflicts 51
i. “War” vs. “armed conflict” 51
ii. What is an “armed conflict”? 52
iii. Occupation 54
b. Wars of national liberation 54
3. Non-international armed conflicts 58
a. Common Article 3 armed conflicts 61
i. Intensity and organisation 63
ii. Geographical field of application 66
iii. The shortcomings of Common Article 3 67
b. Additional Protocol II armed conflicts 67
i. Material field of application 68
4. Internationalised and “transnational” armed conflicts 72
a. Internationalised armed conflicts 73
i. Military intervention by a foreign State in a NIAC 73
A. The conflict becomes an IAC, regardless of which side the foreign State supports 73
B. If the foreign State supports the territorial State, the conflict remains non-international 74
C. If the foreign State supports the armed group, the conflict between the foreign State and the territorial State is international; that between the armed group and the territorial State remains non-international 75
D. If the foreign State supports the armed group, the whole conflict becomes international 75
ii. One of the parties is acting on behalf of a foreign State 76
A. The Nicaragua test – effective control 76
B. The Tadić test – overall control 77
b. “Transnational” armed conflicts 79
i. Conflict between State A and armed group X based in State
A, fighting in State A 80
ii. Conflict between State A and armed group X based in State
B, fighting in State A 80
iii. Conflict between State A and armed group X, fighting in
A spills across border into State B 81
iv. Conflict between State A and armed group X based in neighbouring State B, fighting in B only 82
v. Conflict between State A and armed group X based in State C (and elsewhere), fighting in various States 83
5. Conclusion 85
4 Individual status in armed conflict – combatants, non-combatants, direct participation in hostilities and prisoners of war 87
1. Introduction 87
2. Combatant status – criteria, privileges and responsibilities 88
a. Early rules on combatant status – the US Civil War to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 89
3. The current law regarding combatant status 89
a. Members of the armed forces 90
b. Partisan and resistance fighters 91
i. Being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates 91
ii. Having a fixed distinctive sign 92
iii. Carrying arms openly 92
iv. Obeying the laws of war 93
c. National liberation and guerrilla fighters under Protocol I 93
d. Levée en masse 95
e. Participants in non-international armed conflicts 96
4. Non-combatants entitled to POW status and treatment 97
5. Irregulars in hostilities not entitled to combatant status 98
a. Spies 98
b. Mercenaries 100
c. “Unlawful” combatants 102
d. Private military and security contractors 105
e. Civilians taking direct part in hostilities 109
6. Prisoner of war status 113
a. Determining prisoner of war status 113
b. Treatment of POWs 114
i. Rights of POWs 114
ii. Rules on conditions of captivity 116
iii. Rules on penal and disciplinary proceedings 117
iv. Obligations for detaining authorities regarding transmission of information, monitoring by Protecting Powers and the ICRC, and repatriation of prisoners of war 117
7. Conclusion 118
5 Protection of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked 120
1. Introduction 120
2. The origins of the protection of the hors de combat in armed conflict 120
3. The rules regarding respect for and care of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked 121
a. In international armed conflicts 121
b. In non-international armed conflicts 124
4. Provisions on the dead and missing 125
5. Medical personnel and the protection of medical goods and objects, including hospitals, ambulances and hospital ships 128
a. Medical and religious personnel 128
b. Medical goods and objects, including hospitals, ambulances and hospital ships 129
6. The protective emblems: the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal 132
a. Background to the adoption of the emblems: the Red Cross 132
b. The Red Crescent 134
c. The Red Shield of David 136
d. The Red Crystal 137
e. Substance of the international law on the distinctive emblems 138
7. Conclusion 139
6 The law of occupation and the protection of civilians 142
1. Introduction 142
2. General protections for civilians 142
3. The historical development and philosophical underpinnings of the modern law of occupation 144
4. Beginning of occupation 146
a. Protected persons 147
b. Administration of occupied territory 149
c. Rules on protected persons and persons deprived of their liberty 151
i. Protected persons 151
ii. Persons deprived of their liberty 154
d. End of occupation 155
e. Problems regarding long-term occupation 155
5. Rules on the treatment of civilians in non-international armed conflicts 159
6. Conclusion 161
7 Targeting 163
1. Introduction 163
2. The philosophical underpinnings of the law of targeting 164
3. The basic rule: Article 48 of Additional Protocol I 165
4. Military objects and objectives 166
a. “Objects” and “objectives” 167
b. Nature, location, purpose, use 168
i. Nature 168
ii. Location 168
iii. Purpose 168
iv. Use 169
c. Destruction, capture or neutralisation 169
d. Circumstances ruling at the time 170
e. Definite military advantage 171
5. Additional rules on targeting military objectives 172
a. Indiscriminate attacks 172
b. Proportionality 174
c. Precautions in attack and defence 175
i. Precautions in attack 175
ii. Precautions in defence 178
6. Specific rules on targeting certain types of objects 179
a. Cultural property 179
b. The environment 183
c. Medical facilities 185
d. Works and installations containing dangerous forces 185
e. Objects necessary for the survival of the civilian population 187
f. Civil defence, non-defended localities and demilitarised zones 188
7. Dual use objects – a new category in the law of targeting? 191
8. A note on the kaw of targeting in non-international armed conflicts 192
9. Conclusion 193
8 Means and Methods of Warfare 195
1. Introduction 195
2. The general rules – the prohibitions on causing unnecessary
suffering and superfluous injury, and on indiscriminate means and methods 195
3. The obligation to assess the legality of new means and methods of warfare 199
4. Specifically prohibited weapons and restricted weapons 200
a. Explosive and dum-dum bullets 200
b. Mines and booby-traps 201
i. Booby-traps 202
ii. Landmines 202
c. Incendiary weapons 205
d. Non-detectable fragments 205
e. Blinding laser weapons 206
f. Explosive remnants of war 207
g. Cluster munitions 207
h. Chemical weapons and poison 209
i. Biological and bacteriological weapons 210
5. Prohibited methods of warfare 211
a. Orders of “no quarter” 212
b. Perfidy 212
c. Siege warfare and starvation of civilians 214
d. Pillage 215
e. Other rules relating to methods of warfare 216
i. Belligerent reprisals 216
ii. Mercenaries 218
iii. Parachutists in distress 218
iv. Espionage 219
6. Means and methods of warfare of indeterminate or contested status 220
a. Depleted uranium 220
b. White phosphorus 221
c. Nuclear weapons 223
d. Cyber warfare 226
e. Targeted killing and drone warfare 229
7. Conclusion 234
9 Implementation, enforcement and accountability 235
1. Introduction 235
2. Common Article 1: the obligation to ensure respect 235
3. Measures to be taken in peacetime 237
a. Dissemination to the armed forces 238
b. Dissemination to civil society 239
c. Implementation into domestic legislation 239
4. Role of the protecting powers and the International Committee of the Red Cross 240
5. The International Humanitarian Fact Finding Commission 243
6. Accountability through international criminal law 244
a. Individual responsibility for violations of the laws of armed conflict 245
i. War crimes and grave breaches 245
ii. Violations of the law of armed conflict not amounting to grave breaches 247
iii. Crimes against humanity and genocide 247
b. Command responsibility 248
7. The International Criminal Court, the international tribunals, and the hybrid and internationalised courts 250
8. Reparations for violations of the law of armed conflict 252
9. The role of the United Nations and international and non-governmental organisations 253
10. Implementation, enforcement and accountability in non-international armed conflicts 256
a. What law applies? 256
b. To whom does the (NIAC) law apply? 258
c. Implementation, enforcement and accountability 262
i. Dissemination 262
ii. Special agreements 263
iii. Unilateral undertakings or commitments 263
iv. Accountability through international criminal law 264
11. Conclusion 265
10. Conclusions 267
Bibliography 269
Index 285
