 Legal framework

 All military operations take place within a legal

framework:
 National Law
 Human Rights Law
 Law of Armed Conflict
 Public international law
LAWS LAWS
GOVERNING REFUGEE LAW GOVERNING
PEACEFUL STATE
SETTLEMENTS RESPONSIBILITY
OF CONFLICT

LAWS LAWS
GOVERNING LAW OF GOVERNING
DIPLOMATIC ARMED ECONOMIC
RELATIONS RELATIONS
CONFLICT

HUMAN ENVIRONMENTA LAWS

L LAW GOVERNING AIR
RIGHTS SPACE
LAW

LAWS
GOVERNING MARITIME LAW
INTERNATIONAL
ORGANISATIONS
 Public International Law
 ARMED CONFLICT  PEACE

 Jus ad Bellum  Human Rights Law

To regulate the reasons  National Domestic Law
for war
(the law for war)

 Jus in Bello
To govern the use of
force during an armed
conflict (the law in
war). To protect war
victims.
  Human Rights Law

 Body of international law which defines

and guarantees the rights and freedoms
to which every human being is entitled.
  Human Rights Law
Instruments:
 1948 – Crime of Genocide
 1948 – Universal Declaration
 1951 – Status of Refugees
 1966 – Racial Discrimination
 1966 – Civil and Political Rights
 1966 – Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
 1979 – Discrimination against Women
 1984 – Convention against Torture
 1989 - Rights of the Child
 1989 - Death Penalty
  Law of Armed Conflict (LoAC)

 Regulates conduct of hostilities, means and

methods, occupation, protects war victims,
civilian persons, medical services…
 Geneva Conventions and additional protocols
 Hague Conventions and protocols
 Conventions limitating/banning the use
of specific weapons
 Law of armed conflict (LoAC)

 Basic combat rules

 Fight only those fighting you
 Attack only enemy targets
 Spare and care for prisoners, wounded
and sick enemy
 Spare civilian persons and objects
 Limit destruction to what your mission
  Definition

International
Public Law

LOAC

 Body of public international law governing the use

of force during an armed conflict.
  History and origins

 Customary origins
 Codification since 1863
  Main treaties

Protection
of victims
Conduct of
hostilities
 Main treaties

 The Martens Clause "In cases not covered by [LoAC

treaty law] or other international agreements, civilians
and combatants remain under the protection and
authority of the principles of international law derived
from established custom, from the principles of
humanity and from dictates of public conscience."
Preamble to Hague Convention IV, 1907
  Applicability

LOAC
GP II G I-IV, GP I
Art.3
Art.3
IHRL
DDHH LOAC
National
law

PEACE CONFLICT
internal international
 Applicability

A B A B
a y AP II
C D
C D
neutral

A B Art 3 A B
helps A Whole helps y
GC I-IV
yC spectrum y C
D of LoAC neutral D

A B Art 3 AOT B
a y GC I-IV
C D C
D
CONFLICT neutral

internal international
  Main definitions

 Military  Civilian

 Persons  Persons
 Objects  Objects
 Main definitions

 Armed forces of a party to the conflict consist of

all organized armed forces, groups and units
which are under a command responsible for the
conduct of its subordinates.
 Combatant: any member of the armed forces,
except medical personnel and religious personnel.
 Civilian person: any person who does not belong
to the armed forces and does not take part in a
“levee de masse”.
 Main definitions

 Military objectives are those objects which by

their nature, location, purpose or use make an
effective contribution to military action and whose
total or partial destruction, capture or
neutralisation, in the circumstances ruling at the
time, offers a definite military advantage.
 Civilian objects: any object which is not a military
objective.
 Main definitions

 Medical Units: establishments and other units,

whether military or civilian, organised for medical
purposes i.e., the search for, collection,
transportation, diagnosis or treatment of the
wounded, sick and shipwrecked, or for the
prevention of disease.
 Medical Personnel: persons, whether military or
civilian, who are assigned exclusively to medical
purposes by a party to the conflict.
 Main definitions

 Religious personnel: military or civilian persons,

such as chaplains, who are exclusively engaged in
the work of their ministry and attached to armed
forces, medical units, civil defence organisation.
 Religious objects: places of worship, institutions
dedicated to religion, charity and education.
 Main definitions

 Civil defence: assignment to specific tasks for the

protection and survival of the civilian population.
 Main definitions

 Cultural property: movable and unmovable objects

representing a cultural value as such,
irrespectively of origin or ownership, and
independently of their religious or secular
character.
 Main definitions

 Works and installations containing dangerous

forces: a dam, a dyke or a nuclear power plant
containing forces the release of which would
result in severe losses among the civilian
population.
 Main definitions

 Zones and localities under special protection:

certain areas exempt from attack, bombardment or
from military operations
a. non defended localities
b. demilitarised zones
c. hospital zones and localities
d. safety zones
e. neutralised zones for protection of wounded
f. Red Cross box
 Main definitions

 Prisoners of War (PW): any combatant who has

fallen into the power of the enemy Party.
 Main definitions

 Wounded, sick: any person whether military or

civilian, who, because of trauma, disease or other
physical or mental disorder or disability is in need
of medical assistance or care, and who refrains
from any act of hostility. '.
 Shipwrecked: persons, whether military or civilian,
who are in peril at sea or in other waters as a
result of misfortune affecting them or the vessel
or aircraft carrying them and who refrain from
any act of hostility.
 Dead and missing.
 Principles
MISSION

Necessity

Distinction

Limitation

Proportionality

ACTION
  Responsibility

 States and individuals

 Command responsibility
 War crimes and grave breaches
 International Criminal Court
  Conclusion

 LOAC purpose
 Applicability
 Relation with military decision
 Relation with effectiveness