NATO from the perspective of international humanitarian law (jus in bello)

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NATO from the perspective of international humanitarian law (jus in bello)

By Evgeniy BEREJNOY

The 29 leaders of NATO’s states-members gathered this December, the 3^rd 2019, for the 70^th Anniversary of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, in London. The Organization was created in the context of political and military instability that followed the end of the Second World War. However, the World in the present day is far different from 1949. NATO has been struggling to adapt to changes and its future as well as its internal stability are uncertain. (TIME, 2019). This observation could be reinforced by the French President, Emmanuel Macron’s recent critique toward the Organization: “We are currently experiencing the brain death of NATO” (The Economist, 2019), or the unilateral withdrawing of U.S. troops from Syria (without consulting NATO allies) by the U.S. President, Donald Trump. (ibid).

As an international politico-military organization of States, NATO has conducted a series of major multinational military operations in and around the Balkans, Afghanistan, Libya and elsewhere, an observation that rises inevitably the question of applicability and application of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL).

What is International Humanitarian Law?

International Humanitarian Law or IHL is a set of rules aiming to limit the barbarity of war by framing the context of use of armed force, restricting the use of certain type of weapons as well as the use of means and methods of warfare. IHL or also knows as the law of war does not regulate whether a State may use force, which is regulated by the United Nations Charter. However, IHL concerns the behavior of parties during an ongoing armed conflict = jus in bello.

For a major part the international humanitarian law originates from the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. Almost every State in the world has agreed to be bound by it. The Conventions have been developed and supplemented by two further agreements: the Additional Protocols of 1977 relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts. IHL covers generally two areas: the protection of “non-combatants”; and the restrictions on the means and methods of war.

International humanitarian law protects those who do not take part in the fighting, such as civilians, medical and religious military personnel. It also protects those who have ceased to take part, such as wounded or sick combatants, and prisoners of war.

International humanitarian law prohibits all of the means and methods of warfare which:

 - fail to discriminate between those taking part in the fighting and those who are not, the purpose being to protect the civilian population and civilian property;

- cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering;

- cause severe or long-term damage to the environment. 

Humanitarian law has therefore banned the use of many weapons, including exploding bullets, chemical and biological weapons, blinding laser weapons and anti-personnel mines.

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