Humanitarian international law (HVR) is the recapitulatory name for all regulations of international law, which apply in the case of an armed conflict between two parties (are). In it regulations are contained for the status of the Kombattanten, for warfare and for the treatment of the prisoners of war. The most important regulations of humanitarian international law are Hague those agreements and those Geneva conventions with the supplementary agreements.

Prohibitions after the HVR, in which also soldiers are informed, are among other things

• the use of suffocating and poisonous gases as well as bacterial agents
• the abuse in Hague the conventions and into that Geneva agreements fixed protection characters as e.g. of medicalofficially active persons and mechanisms (red cross, red Halbmond), for persons and mechanisms of the civil defense and to the protection of cultural property
• the use of wrong uniforms and sovereignty badge
• certain Repressalien against the civilian population in contested or occupied area (e.g. shootings of hostages)

However in the conflicts of the 1990er years HVR regulations were often ignored or gone around. A special difficulty in the today's HVR represents asymmetrical warfare in such a way specified. This situation ensures still much less as the conflict between two states that the relevant regulations are kept.

Humanitarian international law is punish-reinforced by national laws of the signatory states, since it contains appropriate obligations. That means that these crimes are subject usually to the prosecution and jurisdiction of the respective countries. Some serious offences stand beyond that under the jurisdiction of the international criminal court. This applies however only, if the appropriate states not ready or not able are to guarantee an appropriate prosecution and if the crimes were committed after 1 July 2002.

Related links

• Humanitarian international law data base of the IKRK (English)
• German-language original texts of the agreements and explanations of the two Hague conferences of peace
• Discover humanitarian international law

Articles in category "Humanitarian international law"

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