The term refers to the means and methods of warfare employed by belligerents in armed conflicts. The IHL rules on conduct of hostilities aim to strike a balance between military necessity and humanity, seeking mainly to protect civilians from attacks and effects of hostilities, but equally to limit the suffering of combatants. Key principles of IHL governing the conduct of hostilities include: distinction, proportionality, precautions and prohibition of superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.
See Distinction; Proportionality; Precautions in attack; Means of warfare; Methods of warfare; Military objectives; Civilian objects; Fighters; Direct participation in hostilities; Naval warfare; Law enforcement; Superfluous injury;
OUTLINE
DOCUMENTS
CASES
- Outer Space/Applicability of IHL in Space
- Australia/Afghanistan, Inquiry into the Conduct of Australian Defence Forces
- Yemen, UN Report on the Armed Conflict since 2014
- United States/United Kingdom, Report on the Conduct of the Persian Gulf War
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, NATO Intervention
- Georgia/Russia, Human Rights Watch’s Report on the Conflict in South Ossetia
- Georgia/Russia, Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in South Ossetia
- Israel/Gaza, Operation Cast Lead
- ICRC, IHL and the Challenges of Contemporary Armed Conflicts
- Afghanistan, Code of Conduct for the Mujahideen
- Nigeria, Operational Code of Conduct
- The Environment and International Humanitarian Law
- Cambodia/Thailand, Border Conflict around the Temple of Preah Vihear
- Mali, Destruction of World Cultural Heritage
- Yemen, Obstructing Medical Care
- South Sudan: Medical Care Under Fire
- Syria, Code of Conduct of the Free Syrian Army
- Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health
- ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Gotovina and Markač
- Autonomous Weapon Systems
- ECHR, Al-Skeini et al. v. UK
- General Assembly, The use of drones in counter-terrorism operations
- U.S., Lethal Operations against Al-Qa’ida Leaders
- Syria, Press conference with French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin
- Libya, NATO Intervention 2011
- ICRC, International Humanitarian Law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts in 2015 (Paras. 193)
- Yemen, Potential Existence and Effects of Naval Blockade
- Sri Lanka, Naval War against Tamil Tigers
- Syria, Report by UN Commission of Inquiry (March 2017)
- Afghanistan, Bombing of a Civilian Truck
- Italy, Use of force against ambulances in Iraq
- Syria, the Battle for Aleppo
- Iraq/Syria/UK, Drone Operations against ISIS
- ICRC, Statement - War in Cities ; What is at Stake?
- Belgium, Prosecution of Terrorist Crimes in the context of Armed Conflict
- Iraq, The Battle for Mosul
- Germany, Aerial Drone Attack in Mir Ali/Pakistan
- Eastern Ukraine, Attacks Against and Military Use of Schools
- Eastern Ukraine, OHCHR Report on the Situation: November 2016 - February 2017
- Syria, Syrian rebels treat captured Filipino soldiers as 'guests'
- Central African Republic/Democratic Republic of Congo/Uganda, LRA attacks
- Central African Republic, Coup d'Etat
- Central African Republic, No Class: When Armed Groups Use Schools
- South Sudan, Activities of Oil Companies
- “Great March of Return” Demonstrations and Israel’s Military Response
- Yemen , Humanitarian Impact of the Conflict
- Mexico, Recapture of Ovidio Guzmán, One of the Leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel
- The Netherlands, Fighting in the Chora District (Afghanistan)
- Switzerland, Voluntary Report on Implementation of IHL
- Colombia, Special Jurisdiction for Peace, Extrajudicial Executions in Casanare
- Somalia, The Death of Bilal Al-Sudani
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
ARRASSEN Mohamed, Conduite des hostilités, droit des conflits armés et désarmement, Brussels, Bruylant, 1986, 605 pp.
BAXTER Richard R., “The Duties of Combatants and the Conduct of Hostilities (The Law of the Hague)”, in International Dimensions of Humanitarian Law, Geneva, Henry-Dunant Institute/UNESCO, 1986, pp. 93-133.
DINSTEIN Yoram, “Jus in Bello Issues Arising in the Hostilities in Iraq in 2003”, in IYHR, Vol. 34, 2004, pp. 1-14.
DINSTEIN Yoram, The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict, Cambridge, CUP, 2010, 320 pp.
EPSTEIN Melissa & BUTLER Richard, “The Customary Origins and Elements of Select Conduct of Hostilities Charges before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: A Potential Model for Use by Military Commissions”, in Military Law Review, Vol. 179, 2004, pp. 68-127.
KALSHOVEN Frits & ZEGVELD Liesbeth, Constraints on the Waging of War, Geneva, ICRC, 2001, 223 pp.
SOLF Waldemar A., “Protection of Civilians Against the Effects of Hostilities under Customary International Law and under Protocol I”, in American University Journal of International Law and Policy, Vol. 1, 1986, pp. 107-135
“Declaration on the Rules of International Humanitarian Law Governing the Conduct of Hostilities in Non-International Armed Conflicts”, in IRRC, No. 278, September-October 1990, 5 pp.
“Rules of International Humanitarian Law Governing the Conduct of Hostilities in Non-International Armed Conflicts”, in IRRC, No. 278, September-October 1990, pp. 383-403.