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The Humanization of Humanitarian Law
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Humanitarian LawLawInternational CrimesSocial SciencesCivilian ProtectionInternational Criminal LawCrime Against HumanityInternational RelationsHuman RightsWar CrimesInternational LawHuman Rights LawInternational Humanitarian LawPublic International LawHague ConventionArmed ConflictHumanitarian AidInternational Legal StudiesWar CrimeSocial Justice
International humanitarian law has evolved over a century, expanding protections from noncombatants to combatants and addressing new weapons such as antipersonnel mines and blinding lasers. The essay examines how human rights and humanity have driven the humanization of IHL. The centennial of the Hague Convention and the fiftieth anniversary of the Geneva Conventions provide a milestone for reflecting on IHL’s evolution.
The centennial of the Hague Convention (No. II; No. IV in the 1907 version) on the Laws and Customs of War on Land and the fiftieth anniversary of the four Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War of August 12, 1949, present an opportunity to reflect on the direction in which the law of war, or international humanitarian law, has been evolving. This essay focuses on the humanization of that law, a process driven to a large extent by human rights and the principles of humanity. As the subject is vast, major issues must inevitably be left out of my discussion, including the impact of the prohibitions on unnecessary suffering and indiscriminate warfare on the regulation of weapons, the proscription of antipersonnel land mines and blinding laser weapons, and the progression of international humanitarian law from largely protecting noncombatants to protecting combatants as well.