International Humanitarian Law….its concept and application.

Part 2 .

By Subrata Mukherjee

In love with Golapi, Subratagolapi.

In the cases of armed conflicts among the states in the international arena ,it is not easy to point out the guilty state which actually violated the rules and charter of the United Nations.

International Humanitarian Law aims at protecting the victims of war and their property besides their fundamental and other human rights . According to the norms of the Conversation jus in bello must remain independent of jus ad bellum or jus contra bellum.

United Nations charter upholds right of the individuals for collective self defence by the following applications :-

1.Peace keeping measures.

2. Coercive measures.

Various covenants and norms were involved in shaping the modern form of the International Humanitarian Law and the references of those treaties and covenants can be mentioned as follows:–

1. The Covenant of the League of Nations in 1919.

2.The Treaty of Paris , 1928.

3.The United Nations charter, 1945.

4.The Resolution of United Nations General Assembly ,1965.

The International Humanitarian Law has been developed in its complete form by the states by codification and mutual understanding of the state practice .

The Geneva Conventions recognised the rights of the victims of the armed conflicts to receive necessary supplies required for their survival and this right was fully consolidated in the Protocol of 1977.

Perhaps the only limitation of the International Humanitarian Law is that it does not apply to such situations of violence and conflicts which are not amounting to the level of armed conflicts because such cases are to be dealt with the provisions of the Human Rights Law and the measures as taken by the domestic legislations of the concerned states of the world .

Even the conflicts arise out of the anarchic violence come under the provisions of the International Humanitarian Law .

Further several international Protocols have also been adopted time to time to strengthen the range and purview of the Humanitarian Law and such Protocols and international conventions are :

1. The Protocol relating to the blinding laser weapons , adopted in The Vienna Diplomatic Conference in 1995 .

2. The Convention in the International Conference of The International committee of The Red Cross and the Red Crescent in Geneva , 1995 .

3. The extention and adoption of statutes of the International Criminal Court in 1998 .

4. The extension of the scope of United Nations Convention on the prohibition and restrictions of conventional weapons , in 2001.

As the party to the Geneva Conventions , states undertake obligation to enact any such legislation that is necessary to punish persons found guilty and convicted of breaches of the Conventions.

States are authorised to take punitive measures against all such violators of The International Humanitarian Law and the International Conventions.

In this regard Humanitarian Law enables and allows the International Committee of the Red Cross to ensure that all such humanitarian rules , norms and standards are being adopted with the strict principles of the international conventions and Protocols .

Out of many , one of the ICRC ‘s role is to undertake all the scheuled tasks specifically given upon its function as per the Geneva Conventions and International Humanitarian Law and the representatives and the delegates of the ICRC have authorised permission to visit all the places where the prisoners of the war or the wounded military personnel or the innocent civilians are kept in the imprisonment or confinement and can take measures as per the guidelines as described in conformity with the specific International Law.

Such relevant prosecutions may be brought to the administration of justice by the National Courts of the respective States or by an International Criminal Court or Tribunal or such specific Authority constituted by the appropriate statute in this regard as necessary .

Thank you .

22nd June ,2020.