1.
• International humanitarian law (IHL) is a set
of rules that aim to limit the effects of armed
conflict.
• It places restrictions on the parties to a
conflict regarding the means and methods of
warfare used.
• It protects people who are not, or are no
longer, participating in hostilities.
• It is also known as the law of war or the law
of armed conflict.
What is IHL?

2.
IHL applies
regardless of the
legality of the
conflict and is
equally binding on
all parties to the
conflict.

3.
IHL is one of the most powerful tools the
international community has at its disposal to ensure
the safety and dignity of people in times of war.
It seeks to preserve a measure of humanity amidst
conflict, with the guiding principle that even in war
there are limits.
Why is IHL important?

4.
IHL is applicable only in case of an international or
non-international armed conflict; in case of other
situations of violence not reaching the threshold for
armed conflict, such as internal disturbances, internal
tensions and other forms of collective violence
that do not amount to armed conflict…
IHL is not applicable and such situations are regulated
by human rights law and domestic law.

5.
IHL governs the conduct of hostilities by the parties to a conflict and protects
persons in enemy hands. It also:
• requires the parties to a conflict to distinguish between
combatants and civilians, and to refrain from attacking civilians;
• prohibits or limits the use of weapons that are particularly cruel or
that do not distinguish between combatants and civilians;
• requires the parties to a conflict to care for the wounded and sick
and to protect medical personnel;
• requires the parties to a conflict to ensure that the dignity of
prisoners of war and civilian internees is preserved, in particular by
allowing visits by ICRC delegates.
How does IHL protect?

6.
IHL applies in three situations:
1. international armed conflicts, which involve at least two
countries;
2. situations where the whole or part of a country’s territory is
occupied by a foreign power;
3. armed conflicts that arise within a country between a
government and one or more organized armed groups, or
between various organized armed groups.
When does IHL apply?
IHL applies to all parties to a conflict,
regardless of who started it.

7.
IHL protects combatants and those who are not, or are
no longer, participating in hostilities, such as:
•• civilians;
•• medical and religious personnel;
•• wounded, shipwrecked and sick combatants;
•• prisoners of war;
•• civilian internees.
WHOM DOES IHL PROTECT?
Recognizing their specific needs, IHL
grants women and
children additional protection.

8.
HISTORY
OF IHL

9.
• Napoleonic Wars in Europe (1803–1815)
• American Civil War (1861–1865)
• War is as old as mankind, and all civilizations and
religions have tried to limit its devastating effects
by subjecting warriors to customary practices,
codes of honour and local or temporary
agreements with the adversary

10.
Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman, and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss army officer.
In 1863, together with
Gustave Moynier, Louis
Appia and Théodore
Maunoir, Dunant and
Dufour founded the
‘Committee of Five’, an
international committee
for the relief of the
military wounded.
This would become the
International Committee
of the Red Cross in
1876.

11.
Un souvenir de Solferino (A Memory
of Solferino), in which he made
essentially two proposals.
First, independent relief
organizations should be
established to provide care to
wounded soldiers on the
battlefield
Second, an international
agreement should be reached
to grant such organizations the
protection of neutrality.

12.
The Swiss government, at the prompting of the
five founding members
of the ICRC, convened a diplomatic conference
in 1864. It was attended
by 16 States, who adopted the Convention for
the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the
Field.
That was the birth of
modern IHL.

13.
After World War II… the 1949 Diplomatic Conference adopted a revised and completed set of
four Geneva Conventions;
1.the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the
Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field (First Geneva
Convention),
2.the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of
Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at
Sea (Second Geneva Convention),
3.the Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
(Third Geneva Convention)
4.the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in
Time of War (Fourth Geneva Convention).
1954 The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the
Event of Armed Conflict

14.
• War between sovereign States
(international armed conflicts)
• War between governments
and organized armed groups
(non-international armed
conflicts)
• Wars of national liberation
DOUBLE CLASSIFICATION
A situation may be classified as more
than one armed conflict. This
happens for instance in certain cases
of foreign intervention, or when a
State is fighting against both an armed
group and another State.

15.
Proliferation of non-
international PROXY WARS
between governments and
organized armed groups, in
which each side was
supported by one of the
superpowers.

16.
CONTEMPORARY
CHALLENGES
The “war on terror” and
the rise of organized crime

17.
The decade-long nuclear stalemate between superpowers
was no longer perceived as the world’s foremost security
concern, and the focus shifted to the vulnerability of
modern, globalized society to the harm caused by
sophisticated TERRORIST GROUPS and other forms of
transnational organized crime.

18.
• Can all or part of the global “war on terror” be regarded as an
armed conflict governed by IHL?
• If so, what are the geographic delimitations of this conflict and
how does IHL interrelate with human rights law?
• What is the legal status of suspected terrorists, including
those deprived of their liberty?
• Are they “unprivileged” combatants subject to direct attack?
• Or are they civilian criminals subject to arrest and prosecution
under the rules of law enforcement?

19.
• Once captured, are they entitled to combatant and
prisoner-of-war status, or are they to be treated as
civilian internees?
• What are the judicial guarantees and procedural rights
of persons interned or prosecuted for their alleged
involvement in transnational terrorism?
• What limits does the prohibition of torture and
inhumane treatment impose on interrogation methods
used to avert a perceived imminent terrorist threat?

20.
TRANSNATIONAL ORGANIZED CRIME becoming a
primary international security concern
counter-narcotics
counter-piracy operations
urban gang warfare
mass hostage-taking

21.
the distinction between peace and armed
conflict and between policing and military
hostilities, is becoming increasingly blurred,
and there is growing confusion as to the legal
standards governing such situations.

22.
Asymmetric conflicts and the challenge to non-
reciprocity
Since the end of the Cold War,
armed conflicts have become
increasingly ASYMMETRIC,
typically pitting overwhelmingly
powerful States against often
poorly organized and equipped
armed groups.

23.
The enormous technological and military
superiority of the States involved has led
opposition groups to avoid identification and
defeat by moving underground, intermingling
with the civilian population and engaging in
various forms of guerrilla warfare.

24.
military confrontations often take place in
the midst of densely populated areas, which not
only exposes the civilian population to
increased risks of incidental harm, but also
facilitates the direct participation of civilians in
hostilities

25.
unable to prevail in direct confrontations with
the enemy, armed groups are increasingly
tempted to resort to means and methods
prohibited by IHL, such as mis-using civilian
clothing to perfidiously kill, wound or capture an
adversary, conducting indiscriminate attacks, or
even directly targeting civilians, humanitarian or
medical personnel and their infrastructure (so-
called “soft-targets”)

26.
this trend has put considerable strain
on the concepts of non-reciprocity
and the equality of
belligerents and, unfortunately, on
the willingness of both State armed
forces and non-State armed groups
to accept their obligations under
IHL…

27.
Privatization and civilianization of military and
security activities
IHL does not prohibit the outsourcing of military and security
functions but even stipulates that civilians formally authorized
to accompany the armed forces in an international armed
conflict be entitled to prisoner-of-war status upon capture

28.
The past decade, however, has seen an unprecedented
trend towards the outsourcing of functions traditionally
assumed by State armed forces to private military and
security companies.

29.
The privatization of military functions…
• it must be emphasized that States cannot,
through the practice of out sourcing,
absolve themselves of their legal
responsibilities under IHL.
• whatever their functions or activities may
be, private contractors never fall outside the
protection of IHL.

30.
New weapons technologies

31.
Where IHL is applicable, the
systematic use of drones
raises concerns with regard to
the reliability of the targeting
information used, the exposure
of the civilian population to
incidental harm, and the
inability of the attacker to care
for the wounded, or to capture
rather than kill.
Remote-controlled Drones

32.
it is unclear whether cyber
operations, in and of
themselves, could give rise to
an armed conflict and, thus,
trigger the applicability of IHL

33.
Nanotechnology
and autonomous weapons
• this prospect clearly raises questions as to
the operational control of such weapon
systems and the legal and criminal
responsibility for the harm done by them in
case of actions violating IHL.

34.
Respect for IHL

35.
The most urgent humanitarian
need is not to adopt new rules
but rather to ensure actual
compliance with the existing
legal framework.

36.
Thank You