What is International Humanitarian Law (IHL) That branch of Public International Law which governs armed conflicts to the end that the use of violence is limited and that human suffering is mitigated or reduced by limiting the means of military operations and by protecting persons who do not or no longer participate in the hostilities. This used to be referred to as The Laws of War. The cornerstone of IHL is the Principle of Distinction. Under this principle, persons engaged in armed conflicts must, at all times, distinguish between civilians and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives. The 6 principal legal instruments of IHL are: The Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, and the Two Additional Protocols of 1977. Following the Principle of Distinction, Combatants are those directly engaged in the armed conflicts like members of the regular armed forces, members of the irregular forces (guerillas and militias), the levee en masse, officers and crew of merchant marine vessels who forcibly resist attack. Combatants when captured, should be treated as Prisoners of War (POWs), who have rights under IHL. However, there are combatants who are non-privileged, like spies, saboteurs, mercenaries (soldiers for a fee). They are non-privileged, because when captured they should not be entitled to be treated as Prisoners of War although they have that minimum right to a hearing.
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 05:36:39 +0000
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