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International humanitarian law (IHL) is the set of rules that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict for humanitarian reasons. It protects those not directly involved in hostilities and imposes limits on the means and methods of war. IHL applies to both states and non-state armed groups involved in conflict. It distinguishes between civilians and combatants and prohibits unnecessary suffering. It also recognizes the distinction between international and non-international armed conflicts. Some conventions associated with IHL include the Geneva Conventions and additional protocols. IHL does not determine the legitimacy of the war but regulates the behavior of parties once it has started. It prohibits the use of force, with exceptions for self-defense and UN Security Council authorization. The conduct of parties engaged in armed conflict is regulated by Jus ad Bellum and public international law. Hello and welcome to yet another episode of the Diary of a Lawyer and today we are going to be talking about international human rights law. Now we have to draw a distinction between international human rights law and international humanitarian law. International humanitarian law is primarily generally dealt with the law of armed conflicts and it has very specific principles and various conventions related to it. So it's distinct from human rights law, international human rights law, although they are inevitably they are intersections because they are all dealing with the rights of human beings. So it's a very big subject, we are just going to do a quick overview, basics and introduction. So what is international humanitarian law? According to various sources, the cross, the UN and other NGOs, international humanitarian law refers to the laws of war or the law of armed conflict and has a legal framework to sort of circumstances around the situations around armed conflict as well as occupation and it has a set of rules, as I mentioned before, aims, principles and humanitarian reasons to limit the effect and impact of armed conflict. So some of the fundamental principles of high H law, high HL, which is also international humanitarian law, that persons who are not or who are no longer participating in hostilities must be protected and the rights of parties to non-conflict to choose methods and means of war is not unlimited, essentially what that means is that if people are not involved in conflict or they have surrendered etc. etc. they have to be protected. Also, just because people, there is war or there is armed conflict, it does not necessarily mean that disproportionate means are used in relation to the threat posed to the various parties. That's, you know, the sort of general interpretation of those two principles. Now high HL is part of public international law and public international law has a broad set of treaties, customary laws, principles and norms and they are a framework which traditionally regulates relationships generally and workings between states, although they have evolved over time into, depending on the range of actors and the circumstances. Similarly, high HL, international humanitarian law, is also notable in this regard because it recognizes obligations for both states and non-state armed groups that are involved in conflict. This part of the law regulates armed conflict, as we mentioned, situations, as well as situations of occupation. It is distinct and separate and applies irrespective of the law that regulates the use of arms and this is known, the framework generally known as Jus Ad Bellum and it's enshrined in the UN Charter. We'll talk about it briefly, slightly more detail a little bit later, but it regulates conditions under which force may be used, such as self-defense pursuant to the UN Security Council authorization and once there is armed conflict, the high HL applies to all parties whether or not the party was legally justified in using force under Jus Ad Bellum principles. So at its core, high HL reflects a balance between the need for use of arms and force and considerations of humanitarian considerations during conflict. In other words, even though irrespective of the reasons of the conflict, once armed conflict starts, humanitarianism needs to be observed by all combatants, all parties involved and it is also important that the measures used have to comply with international humanitarian law. And so it's a balance between the humanity and mutual necessity, which is essentially the fundamental foundation of high HL norms of distinction and proportionality. Armed conflict is classified in two ways, either as international armed conflict or non-international armed conflict. Now whether or not an armed conflict is an international armed conflict or non-international conflict has significant implications for prisoner of war status, combatant status and the rules regulating hostilities as well as humanitarian access and assistance are more detailed for international armed conflict. The definition of international armed conflict is found in Article 2 which is common to the four Geneva Conventions that are part of international humanitarian law and it states that rules of high HL apply to all cases of declared war or any armed conflict which may arise between two or more of the high contracting parties. That is to say an international armed conflict can only be between two or more states. And Article 3, which is under the Geneva Convention, defines a non-international armed conflict as an armed conflict not of an international character and that, for example, if a non-state armed group is part of an armed conflict it will be categorized as an international armed conflict. And there are key, there are various principles of international humanitarian law, but just before we go in there we just have to recap the international humanitarian law is a set of rules, a list of, based on various organizations and definitions such as the Red Cross, United Nations and other NGOs, as a set of rules that seeks for humanitarianism to limit the effects of armed conflict. And as I said before, it protects persons who are not or no longer directly involved in conflict by spreading hostilities and imposes limits to the means and methods of warfare. Now, as I mentioned, public international law is made up of protests, customary international law and general principles of law and therefore it sets out the rules, if you like, of war. Now, what are the fundamentals of international human, international humanitarian law? It is, it's from, based on the definition I've given previously, shortly, that distinguishes between those who do not or no longer directly participate in hostilities and restricting the amount of, necessary to achieve the aim of the conflict, then that derived from those general overarching principles are the further principles that are set out under IHL. And these include the distinction between civilians and combatants, the prohibition to attack those who are described as host to combat, the prohibition to inflict unnecessary suffering, the principle of necessity and the principle of proportionality. And therefore the definition also reveals the inherent limits of international human rights law, such as it does not prohibit the use of violence, it cannot protect all those affected by an armed conflict, it makes no distinction based on the purpose of the conflict, it does not bar a party from overcoming the enemy, it does presuppose that parties to an armed conflict have rational aims and those aims as such do not contradict IHL. And this is part of the textbook of the description from the IICRC. Now, what are some of the conventions associated with IHL or the treaties? And the treaties include the 1907 Hague Regulations, the full Geneva Convention and the additional protocols. I'll quickly go through them just as a summary. The 1907 Hague Regulations, Convention for Respecting the Laws and Customs for Land and its Annex, the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, which was based in Geneva 12, August 1949, the Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, again August 1949, the Convention Relating the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 1949, the Convention Relating the Protection of Civilians of Passing Terms of War, again same year 1949, the Protocol Addition to the Geneva Convention and Relating the Protections of Victims of International Armed Conflicts in June 1977, and last but not least, the Protocol Addition to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, again June 1979, and lastly, the Protocol Addition to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 Relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem, December 2005. So that's sort of in a nutshell the overarching principles, definitions, and the conventions associated with the international human rights law, sorry, international humanitarian law, which should be distinct, which should be differentiated from international human rights And so that is it in a nutshell. It is a detailed topic, but we have sort of tried to summarize what it's about, the basic principles, and the two core fundamentals from which the principles are derived. As always, we just set up what the law actually says, but do not get involved in the specific arguments around it, unless of course we're looking at specific cases, which we will do in a slightly different format. So, I mean, there we shall leave it in this episode of the Diary of a Lawyer, where we have covered what international humanitarian law is, which is a set of rules that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict for humanitarian reasons, which protects persons who are not or are no longer directly or actively participating in hostilities, and imposes limits on the means and methods of war. It's also known as the law of war, or the law of armed conflict. Crucially, it does not stipulate whether the commencement of war was legitimate or not, but rather seeks to regulate the behavior of parties once it has started. It's also important to note that under the UN Charter, it prohibits the use of force, with two exceptions, cases of self-defense against an armed attack, and when the use of armed force is authorized by the United Nations Security Council. And the two, the conduct of parties engaged in armed conflict, Jews in Belem, and public international law, are set out in the Charter of the United Nations, which regulate whether a state may lawfully resort to armed force against another state, Jews at Belem. So, that's it, in a nutshell, sort of the overarching contours and the fundamentals of what international humanitarian law does. And we'll go into details another time, another episode, but there we shall leave it, on this episode of A Diary of a Lawyer, and we will speak again. Thank you, and thanks for listening. Goodbye.