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Law Outlines International Humanitarian Law / Law of Armed Conflict Outlines

International Humanitarian Law Targeting Outline

Updated International Humanitarian Law Targeting 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+NIAC] Targeting 2

Additional Protocol I, Art. 48 2

Additional Protocol I, Art. 49 2

Additional Protocol I, Art. 51 2

Additional Protocol II, Art. 13 3

Summary Targeting Checklist 3

Military Objectives: Persons 4

Combatants 4

Civilians 4

Civilians Directly Participating in Hostilities 5

Military Objectives: Objects 7

Additional Protocol I, Art. 52 7

Military Objects 7

Civilian Objects 8

Proportionality 9

Precautionary Measures 10

Additional Protocol I, Art. 57 10

Additional Protocol I, Art. 58 10

Precautionary Measures 10

Other Precaution Considerations 11

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+NIAC] Targeting

**Principle of distinction is jus cogens, applicable regardless of conflict classification.** This means the targeting, proportionality, and precaution stuff always applies [HB448].

Additional Protocol I, Art. 48

In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.

Additional Protocol I, Art. 49

  1. "Attacks" means acts of violence against the adversary, whether in offence or in defence.

  2. The provisions of this Protocol with respect to attacks apply to all attacks in whatever territory conducted, including the national territory belonging to a Party to the conflict but under the control of an adverse Party.

  3. The provisions of this Section apply to any land, air or sea warfare which may affect the civilian population, individual civilians or civilian objects on land. They further apply to all attacks from the sea or from the air against objectives on land but do not otherwise affect the rules of international law applicable in armed conflict at sea or in the air.

  4. The provisions of this Section are additional to the rules concerning humanitarian protection in GC4, Part II and other agreements/rules.

Additional Protocol I, Art. 51

  1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection, the following rules, which are additional to other applicable rules of international law, shall be observed in all circumstances.

  2. The civilian population as such, as well as individual civilians, shall not be the object of attack. Acts or threats of violence the primary purpose of which is to spread terror among the civilian population are prohibited.

  3. Civilians shall enjoy the protection afforded by this Section, unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.

  4. Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:

    1. those which are not directed at a specific military objective;

    2. those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or

    3. those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction.

  5. Among others, the following types of attacks are to be considered as indiscriminate:

    1. an attack by bombardment by any methods or means which treats as a single military objective a number of clearly separated and distinct military objectives located in a city, town, village or other area containing a similar concentration of civilians or civilian objects; and

    2. an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

  6. Attacks against the civilian population or civilians by way of reprisals are prohibited.

  7. The presence or movements of the civilian population or individual civilians shall not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations, in particular in attempts to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield, favour or impede military operations. The Parties to the conflict shall not direct the movement of the civilian population or individual civilians in order to attempt to shield military objectives from attacks or to shield military operations.

  8. Any violation of these prohibitions shall not release the Parties to the conflict from their legal obligations with respect to the civilian population and civilians, including the obligation to take the precautionary measures provided for in Article 57.

Additional Protocol II, Art. 13

  1. The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against the dangers arising from military operations. To give effect to this protection,...

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