Human Rights: Protecting Human Rights in Armed Conflict

Protection of human rights in armed conflict is a very important area of ​​international law. This is due to the fact that during hostilities, when the lives and safety of a large number of people are at risk, it is necessary to ensure that their rights are respected.

International humanitarian law (IHL) sets out rules that are part of IHL and are intended to limit military action to prevent unnecessary human tragedy and harm to civilians. It contains rules such as the protection of civilians from unprovoked attacks, the prohibition of forced displacement, food and medical aid for populations in conflict zones, and other rules that protect civilians and the independence of humanitarian aid.

Unlike most branches of international law, international humanitarian law has not only a founder, but also an exact date and place of birth. In June 1859, French and Austrian troops fought near Solferino in northern Italy. In the head of Henri Dunant, a young Swiss entrepreneur, an idea arose for international action to alleviate the suffering of the sick and wounded in wars. After the battle, Henri Dunant accidentally found himself among thousands of wounded French and Austrians and, with a few volunteers, did everything he could to alleviate their suffering. Horrified by what he saw, he later wrote the book "Memoirs of Solferino", published in 1862. In it he proposed the creation of national societies for the care of the sick and wounded, regardless of race, nationality or religion. He also suggested that states sign agreements to recognize the work of such organizations and ensure better treatment for victims.

Then Henri Dunant and four friends organized the International Committee for Aid to the Wounded (which was soon renamed the International Committee of the Red Cross). There were attempts to develop universal international mechanisms for the protection of human rights in the conditions of armed conflicts as early as the second half of the 19th century. In 1864, on the initiative of the International Committee 9 for Aid to the Wounded (today - the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)), 12 European states signed the Convention on Alleviating the Fate of the Wounded on the Battlefield. This Convention provided that specially trained personnel would assist the wounded on the battlefield and transport them to hospitals, but that those providing this assistance would be neutral and untouchable. The establishment of the emblem of the Red Cross and the establishment of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and later the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, are closely related to the adoption of the first Geneva Convention.

In 1870, the so-called Central reference agencies began to be created. Their goal was to establish contacts between prisoners of war and their relatives by sending letters. Among the humanitarian tasks, the fulfillment of which was entrusted to the ICRC, agencies occupied an important place. In 1899, at the First Peace Conference, the Hague Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land was adopted, which established a very meaningful new provision on the mandatory participation of the governmental organization of the parties, which would be engaged in collecting information about persons who are in captivity, and public organization with providing assistance to prisoners of war while in captivity of the opposing party. In the future, these issues will be of great practical importance for ensuring control over the proper maintenance of prisoners.

The Annex to the Hague Convention of 1907 on the Laws and Customs of War on Land regulates the position of prisoners of war in Chapter II. The novelty in the mentioned document was that the prisoners of war were given a legal status that protected them from the arbitrariness of states.

Persons detained in armed conflict also need special protection and respect for their rights. International law establishes norms that regulate the circumstances of their detention, ensuring humane and dignified treatment of them, prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Detainees must also be guaranteed their fundamental rights, such as the right to privacy, access to legal aid and a fair trial.

During the First World War (1914 - 1918), the activities of the ICRC in the protection of this category of war victims expanded: delegates began to compile reports on visits with the aim of improving the conditions of detention and treatment of prisoners of war, and also organized the registration and centralized collection of personal data of prisoners . However, in its activities, the organization encountered certain difficulties created by the warring states. Therefore, there was a need to adopt a number of international legal norms aimed at ensuring the protection of human rights in the conditions of armed conflicts (the so-called "Geneva law").

This process consists of three stages:

The first stage began with the adoption in 1929 of the Geneva Conventions on improving the fate of the wounded and sick in active armies and on the regime of prisoners of war. The norms sanctioned by these conventions began to be considered as the fundamental principles of humanitarian law, which are subject to unquestionable implementation by belligerent states, regardless of whether they have been ratified by these states. The basis of these documents is their focus on ensuring the protection of the rights of wounded, sick and captured servicemen;

The second stage of the formation of "Geneva law" consists of the adoption of four Geneva Conventions on the Protection of War Victims in 1949. In contrast to the previous stage, the adopted conventions are aimed at protecting the rights of not only military personnel of warring states, but also the civilian population: Convention on the Protection of the Civilian Population in Time of War of 1949; 1949 Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War; Convention on the Improvement of the Fate of the Wounded and Sick in Active Armies of 1949; Convention for the Amelioration of the Fate of the Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked Persons of Armed Forces at Sea, 1949

The third stage extended protection to all persons injured by armed conflict after the adoption in 1977 of the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 aimed at ensuring the rights of victims of military conflicts:

• I Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 1977;
• II Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions Concerning the Protection of Victims of Armed Conflicts of a Non-International Character, 1977

Currently, the following main principles of "Geneva law" are distinguished: · the civilian population enjoys special legal protection during war or other armed conflicts; prisoners of war enjoy special legal protection; the injured and sick have the right to medical assistance, including and from the side of the enemy and neutral states; prohibition to use particularly cruel types of weapons (explosive bullets, anti-personnel mines) and weapons of mass destruction (chemical, toxic and bacteriological weapons, etc.); granting special rights to Red Cross and Red Crescent personnel.

The inclusion of special article 3, which is common to all conventions, to the Geneva Conventions is a significant achievement of humanitarian law, because in fact the norms of the treaties were extended to those categories of combatants who previously did not have such protection. The content of the article is devoted to "armed conflicts that are not of an international nature and arise on the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties." It applies to all armed conflicts of a non-international nature that arise on the territory of one of the states that has ratified the Geneva Conventions. Analyzing the norm, we conclude that persons who do not directly take part in military operations, including persons from the armed forces who laid down their arms, as well as those who remained "knocked out" of the order, have the right to humane treatment without any -what kind of discrimination. But despite all the advantages of Article 3, it only indirectly defines the scope of its application. This document is definitely mandatory, but nevertheless its content is normatively limited: it contains only a few rules that regulate the protection of people from direct military actions.

The United Nations (UN) and its agencies, in particular the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), are entrusted with the duty, in particular, to monitor and promote the observance of human rights in armed conflict. They assume the role of watchdogs, assist in the restoration of violated rights and contribute to the establishment of international responsibility for human rights violations during hostilities.

The second part of international humanitarian law consists of "Hague law". The conventions of which are aimed at limiting the means and methods of waging war. In addition to the above-mentioned norms, customary norms codified by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which are universal during armed conflicts and mandatory for all states and other subjects, are of great importance in this field of international law. In its essence, every norm of international humanitarian law is a balance between humanity and military necessity, a balance that was achieved by states in the process of adopting the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949 and other international treaties in the field of international humanitarian law.

International humanitarian law applies only in cases of armed conflict and was adopted by states, in particular, to establish certain limits on violence during war, to limit suffering and to protect victims of war. That is why, in order to achieve the goal with which the states created it, international humanitarian law does not assess the legality or illegality of an armed conflict, it can be applied equally to the victim and the aggressor, and does not require reciprocity. At the same time, the restrictive mechanisms of the Geneva Conventions protect those who did not or no longer participate in armed conflicts, regulate the conduct of armed conflicts and limit violence during armed conflicts within certain limits. Like any rule of law, norms of international humanitarian law are, unfortunately, violated, but the violation of a norm is not yet evidence of its imperfection. Mechanisms of responsibility for violations of the norms of international humanitarian law, as a rule, are outside the sectoral boundaries, it is the responsibility of the state as a whole.

The legitimate aim of an armed conflict is to subdue the enemy as quickly as possible with minimal loss of human and other resources. The principle of military necessity allows the use of force only to the extent and nature necessary to achieve the legitimate goal of the conflict, and anything that goes beyond the legitimate goal of the conflict is illegal and prohibited by the norms of international humanitarian law.

If we take into account the fact that the Romano-Germanic legal family has a negative attitude towards custom as a source of criminal law, understanding the general principle of law nullum crimen nulla poena sine lege (without law there is no crime, no punishment) - this can be interpreted as the requirement to enshrine all elements of crimes in the written law (lex scripta). But a completely different position regarding international crimes is reflected in a number of international normative legal acts, such as: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights. According to these documents, any act or omission can be criminally punishable if it is considered a crime based on the general principles of law recognized by civilized countries.

The universal acceptance and application of human rights in armed conflict is an important task for ensuring the dignity, security and basic rights of all persons who are in the conflict zone.