Inter Arma Caritas: Evolution and Nature of International Humanitarian Law

Abstract

International humanitarian law can be defined as the principles and rules which regulate hostilities in order to attenuate their hardships: they aim at safeguarding military personnel placed 'hors de combat' and persons not taking part in hostilities; they also determine the rights and duties of belligerents in the conduct of operations and limit the choice of means of doing harm. This law combines two ideas of a different nature, one legal and the other moral, which may explain the apparent paradoxes it raises (Part 1). The evolution of humanitarian thought through the ages (Part 2) — as well as the attitude of States, the weight of history and politics — have determined the uneasy but progressive codification of humanitarian norms (Part 3). To understand the very nature of humanitarian law, we have to take into account the so-called 'military necessity' which may be at the origin of limitations, if not gaps, in the development and the implementation of humanitarian law. However, because it is also indebted to superior principles derived from established custom, principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience, humanitarian law has acquired specificities which make it universal and obligatory. If humanitarian law is a law concluded by States, its real aim is the protection of the human person (Part 4).

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