ACADEMIC RESEARCH POSTER
CRITICALLY ASSESS THE EXTENT TO WHICH, UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW, WEAPONS SHOULD BE
PROHIBITED OR RESTRICTED, EMPLOYING ONE OR MORE CONTEMPORARY INSTANCES OF ARMED CONFLICTS
INTRODUCTION
International Humanitarian Laws have played a major role in maintaining the conflict between nations.
This poster aims to discuss the extent to which armed weapons are prohibited under International
Humanitarian Laws. Henry Dunant is recognized as the father figure of International Humanitarian Law
and along with Henry Dunant, Guillaume-Henri Dufour also played a major role in the development of
International Humanitarian Law. This poster is about to cover the major roles that International
Humanitarian Laws are supposed to play to minimize the effects of warfare on normal civilians. The two
main branches of international Humanitarian Law are in Geneva and Hague and the names were taken
from those places where the International Humanitarian Law was first initiated.
CONTEXT OF INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN LAW
International Humanitarian Laws are a few sets of rules that are established to limit the effects of armed
conflict between nations. One of the best parts of International Humanitarian Laws is that it applies to
both state-armed and non-state-armed groups. The reason for developing International Humanitarian
Laws was to protect and evacuate medical workers and civilians from the conflict areas. This is
because, without the protection of innocent civilians, there are going to be no international or human
standards. The International Humanitarian Laws was established at the 4th Geneva Conversation.
Furthermore, the International Humanitarian Laws also follow those protocols that were made in 1977
and 2005. These were some additional protocols and rules that were established later and they had to
be followed during any armed conflicts.
International Humanitarian Law is known as the body of wartime rules that need to be followed to save
as many innocent lives as possible. This information needs to be mentioned that European Union “EU”
is one of the most crucial parts of International Humanitarian Laws, as the EU is known as the biggest
donor of International Humanitarian Laws. EU has been funding the International Humanitarian Law to
enhance its worker capacity and quantity. This higher number of humanitarian workers can be very
helpful in evacuating a higher number of civilians from armed conflict areas. International Humanitarian
law has set up some rules that need to be followed by both conflicting parties to reduce the number of
innocent civilian casualties. Internal Humanitarian Law clearly states that military combatants must
distinguish between civilians and combatants before attacking. Laws claim to state that militant
combatants are not allowed to attack the whole civilian population or individual civilian populations.
Violation of International Law can lead to many types of challenges for the accused part of the nation.
Leading to moral outrage, trade sanctions, and other forms of economic reprisals are some of the
punishments that the offending government is going to face due to the violation of International
Humanitarian Law.
Besides that, there are many other responsibilities that International Humanitarian Laws have such as
offering humanitarian aid to people during any kind of armed conflict between two different countries.
International Humanitarian Laws have different rules and situations for different situations. For example, non-
international armed conflict and international Armed conflict are two different types of conflicts that take
place. During any kind of armed conflict, there are many other roles that international humanitarian laws
perform such as projecting the poor civilians. The protection of workers, children, disabled people, and
refugees is another important responsibility that International Humanitarian Laws take care of. During the
time of armed conflicts, the life of the prisoners gets into a very risky situation.
ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN
LAW IN ARMED CONFLICTS
This is one other risky situation that needs to be taken care of by the International Humanitarian Laws.
In recent times, international Humanitarian Laws have played a significant role in reducing or minimising
the death toll in Palestine's Gaza. The conflict between Palestine and Israel is a never-ending war.
From October 7, armed conflict took place between these two nations. Since the war, the Israeli
Defence minister has stopped the supply of basic human needs in Gaza. International humanitarian
laws are sending aid to the people of Gaza as much as possible such as food, water, and medicine.
According to the reports, international humanitarian law is planning to send 250,000 tons of relief to the
people of Gaza.
This includes shelter equipment, food, nm medicine, water, and medical supplies. Human casualties are
rising in Gaza; however, International Humanitarian Laws are trying their best to make sure that the
people of Gaza are reckoning with food, water, and medicine. As this poster has already mentioned
before, the EU is the biggest donor of International Humanitarian Law and they have played a major
role in International Humanitarian Law during the wartime of the Middle East. They have sent
humanitarian aid to Syria, Nigeria, Iraq, and Somalia. Recently International Humanitarian Law and the
EU have played a major role during the war between Russia and Ukraine. Due to the violation of
International Humanitarian Law, Russia had to face many trade sanctions.
APPLICATION OF INTERNATIONAL
HUMANITARIAN LAW FOR WEAPON
UTILISATION
International Humanitarian Law, depending on the concepts of jus ad bello, is attributed as the law of war.
This indicates that laws involved are required to be active in a particular situation of war and conflict.
However, similar to international law, the aspect of international humanitarian law also desires political will
of states for considering a particular situation as an armed conflict. The arising scenario regarding
adamancy of states for recognising a particular situation as an armed conflict for relevant political
reasons. It is also dependent on the entry of new players in conflicts like private military firms and
changing conflict dynamics like battles against terrorism. The law of armed conflict is neither complex nor
arcane but is also not instinctive, compared to the expectations of some. It is significantly challenging for
individuals to have knowledge about the law of war based on personal presumptions of soundings that
can be morally wrong or right.
Therefore, in situations with violence being the death and rule being the norm, it is significantly difficult for
young combatants to instantly decide the wrong or right course of action. Reference to the obligations of
international humanitarian law, there appears to be basic requirements regarding the conduct of hostilities
that are applicable to both international armed conflicts and non-international armed conflicts. This
dictates that many aspects attributed as international counter-terrorism law on grounds of and conflicts
constitute violations of international humanitarian law. The international humanitarian law consists of
basic rules and principles governing the choice of weapons and accordingly restricts the employment of
certain ones. From an initial phase, the international humanitarian law has endeavoured towards limiting
the suffering imposed by armed conflict. This is undertaken by addressing behaviour of the combatants
followed by the choice of methods and means of water including weapons.
In this matter, International humanitarian law accounts for prohibiting or restricting the possession, utilisation,
and development of certain weapons. Prohibition of certain weapons is dependent on particular criteria like
weapons that can render death inevitable and can cause unnecessary suffering or superfluous injury. It is in
accordance with the reference from being directed against a specific military objective and with those whose
effects cannot be Limited against the provisions of international humanitarian law. The following criteria also
involves weapons resulting in long-term, severe, and widespread damage to the natural environment. Based on
these particular criteria, a range of specific weapons have undergone explicit prohibition by international
conventions. These involve anti-personnel mines, blinding leisure weapons, chemical weapons, biological tools,
dumdum bullets, and cluster munitions among others. The utilization of weapons in armed conflict is also
believed to be restricted by general principles and rules under the humanitarian law.
Referring to this, the restriction is based on measuring the need for minimising impact of armed conflicts on
civilian objects and population. The usage and testing of nuclear weapons is identified to be causing catastrophic
and transnational environmental and humanitarian consequences. This is supported by the legacies of over
2,000 nuclear detonations in territories belonging to above 15 nations that have resulted in serious implications
for sustainable development and human rights. It is further argued that there tends to be inadequate global
policy architecture focusing on addressing these environmental and humanitarian consequences of nuclear
weapons. Relevant to this, International humanitarian law accounts for making it clear what a particular armed
conflict is. According to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Article 2 addresses that “the convention shall also
apply to all cases of partial or total occupation of the territory of a high contracting party even if the said
occupation meets with no armed resistance''.
This particular aspect is relevant to all scenarios of declared war or armed conflict arising between two or more
highly contracting parties, irrespective of the state of war not being recognized. It signifies that occurrence of
international aunt conflicts is significantly clear in terms of being a conflict between legal armed forces of distinct
states. A potential example of this involves the conflict between North Korea and South Korea since 1950.
Similarly, this situation of an armed conflict can also be resultant of a war occurring between two distinct
fractions fighting internally while being supported by two different states. A most visible example of this can be
one that occurred in Democratic Republic of Congo in 1998 with the forces from Zimbabwe, Uganda, Angola,
and Rwanda intervening to support various groups. Among the recent situations, a probable example is that of
North Africa and the Middle East with about 45 instances of armed conflicts.
This is relevant to the regions of Egypt, Iraq, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Palestine, Western Sahara, Yemen, Turkey,
and Cyprus among others. Likewise, Africa is also noted to be second on the list with about 35 armed conflicts
taking place in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Somalia, Sudan, Democratic Republic of
Congo, and Mali. This is further accompanied by Asia with 21 armed conflicts, Europe with seven, and Latin
America with 6 cases of armed conflict in recent times. Irrespective of the benefits brought about by integration
of the international humanitarian law, there also tends to be certain criticisms concerning the challenges of
implementing this law in contemporary conflicts. It is based on the argument that form most parts, rules
governing utilisation of such weapons are set forth in particular International conventions addressing these
issues specifically .
This contributes towards application of search laws only to state parties with the main exceptions being Geneva
Conventions and Additional Protocols carrying a status of customary international law. Furthermore,
implementation of the humanitarian law is also found to be limiting the ways for weapon utilisation, thus requiring
parties to the conflict establishing a difference between military and civilian objects. In addition, fragmented non-
state armed groups, rapid development of private security and military companies along with need for outlawing
or limiting utilisation of certain weapons are identified as significant challenges. Findings also counter that most
armed conflicts get dominated by asymmetries between poor and rich parties, between non-state and state
actors or between technologically advanced forces and the ones lacking. This paves the way for neglecting
humanity and protection in such conflicts and resulting in valuabilities for technology advanced societies. It can
thus be determined that stressing on having the right to choose the correct means or methods of warfare is not
unlimited.
CONCLUSION
The poster has covered the key responsibilities of International Humanitarian Law. Furthermore, this
poster has done a critical reflection on to which extent the use of any kind of armed weapon is
restricted or prohibited under International Humanitarian Law. The study has deduced that
international humanitarian law that international humanitarian law is a set of rules and regulations that
state-armed and non-state-armed parties must follow to reduce the number of innocent civilian
casualties. Rescuing poor workers, disabled persons, women, medical workers, and children is the
key responsibility that International Humanitarian laws must follow. EU has been very supportive of
International Humanitarian Law by huge donations. Weapons of mass destruction can not only affect
the targeted areas; however, they can severely after the neighbouring areas and the people living
there too. Weapons that are about to destroy the natural environment a large are harmful and can
cause climate disturbance issues too. Therefore, this study concludes that the use of mass
destructive weapons that can harm both the environment and nature is prohibited during armed
conflicts such as nuclear weapons
.
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