This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more

Law Outlines International Humanitarian Law / Law of Armed Conflict Outlines

International Humanitarian Law Authorization And Use Of Force Jus Ad Bellum Outline

Updated International Humanitarian Law Authorization And Use Of Force Jus Ad Bellum Notes

International Humanitarian Law / Law of Armed Conflict Outlines

International Humanitarian Law / Law of Armed Conflict

Approximately 63 pages

Hello! This is my outline for International Humanitarian Law (IHL), also called Law of War or Law of Armed Conflict. It covers all the main topics in detail, including when a state can lawfully use force, international armed conflicts, non-international armed conflicts, belligerent occupation, targeting, means and methods of war, protected persons and objects, prisoners of war and civilian detainees, humanitarian aid, international criminal accountability, and the interaction of IHL and human rig...

The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our International Humanitarian Law / Law of Armed Conflict Outlines. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:

[IAC] Authorization of Armed Force: Jus ad Bellum 2

UN Charter Articles 1 and 2 2

UN Charter, Art. 1 2

UN Charter, Art. 2(4) 2

UN Charter Chapter VII 3

UN Charter, Art. 39 3

UN Charter, Art. 40 3

UN Charter, Art. 41 3

UN Charter, Art. 42 3

UN Charter, Art. 51 3

Lawful Use of Force 4

Exceptions to UNC Art. 2(4)’s prohibition 4

Self-Defense 5

Inherent Right to Self-Defense 5

Element 0: Armed Attack 5

Element 1: Necessity 5

Element 2: Proportionality 7

Afterwards: Report to Security Council 7

Wall Between Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello 7

Note on citations:

For treaties, I have used an abbreviation, followed by a period and the article number. Thus Geneva Convention IV, Article 42 becomes “GC4.42.” Article 2 Common to the Geneva Conventions becomes GC.CA2. The Hague Regulations are HR, and the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions are AP1 & AP2.

Citations in the form “HB000” refer to section numbers in Fleck, The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (3rd ed.).

I’ve also cited certain academic articles, commentaries and government documents:

ILA-Sydney refers to the International Law Association’s 2018 Sydney Conference Report on the Use of Force.

Sassòli refers to Marco Sassòli’s 2015 article “Combatants” in the Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law.

DoD refers to the US Department of Defense Law of War Manual (Dec. 2016 Update).

ICRC guidance on civilians directly participating in hostilities refers to Nils Melzer (ICRC) Interpretive Guidance (2009).

Lubell refers to Noam Lubell, “Fragmented Wars: Multi-Territorial Military Operations Against Armed Groups” 93 International Legal Studies 215 (2017).

[IAC] Authorization of Armed Force: Jus ad Bellum

**This is all IAC stuff, not NIAC!**

There is no jus ad bellum, IHL or other international law (except to the extent IHRL is applicable) on when a state can engage in armed conflict against non-state.

UN Charter Articles 1 and 2

UN Charter, Art. 1

The Purposes of the United Nations are:

  1. To maintain international peace and security, to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;

  2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;

  3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and

  4. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

UN Charter, Art. 2(4)

The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles:

  1. The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the Purposes stated in Article 1, shall act in accordance with the following Principles:

  2. The Organization is based on the principle of the sovereign equality of all its Members.

  3. All Members, in order to ensure, to all of them the rights and benefits resulting from membership, shall fulfill in good faith the obligations assumed by them in accordance with the present Charter.

  4. All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.

  5. All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

  6. All Members shall give the United Nations every assistance in any action it takes in accordance with the present Charter, and shall refrain from giving assistance to any state against which the United Nations is taking preventive or enforcement action.

  7. The Organization shall ensure that states which are not Members of the United Nations act in accordance with these Principles so far as may be necessary for the maintenance of international peace and security.

  8. Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state or shall require the Members to submit such matters to settlement under the present Charter; but this principle shall not prejudice the application of enforcement measures under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.

UN Charter Chapter VII

UN Charter, Art. 39

The Security Council shall determine the existence of any threat to the peace, breach of the peace, or act of aggression and shall make recommendations, or decide what measures shall be taken in accordance with Articles 41 and 42, to maintain or restore international peace and security.

UN Charter, Art. 40

In order to prevent an aggravation of the situation, the Security Council may, before making the recommendations or deciding upon the measures provided for in Article 39, call upon the parties concerned to comply with such provisional measures as it deems necessary or desirable. Such provisional measures shall be without prejudice to the rights, claims, or position of the parties concerned. The Security Council shall duly take account of failure to comply with such provisional measures.

UN Charter, Art. 41

The Security Council may decide what measures not involving the use of armed force are to be employed to give effect to its decisions, and it may call upon the Members of the United Nations to...

Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our International Humanitarian Law / Law of Armed Conflict Outlines.