IHL

International humanitarian law (IHL) is the branch of international law that governs the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its human costs. It applies from the onset of armed hostilities and aims to protect people who are not, or no longer, participating in fighting and to restrict the means and methods of warfare. IHL is derived from treaty law and customary international law and is supplemented by the practices of states and international organizations.

The core rules of IHL include the principles of distinction (between military targets and civilians or civilian objects), proportionality (avoiding excessive force in relation to the concrete military objective), precaution in attack, and humanity (prohibiting gratuitous suffering). It protects civilians, medical personnel and facilities, prisoners of war, the wounded, and cultural property, while restricting or prohibiting certain means of warfare, such as perfidy, torture, starvation, and the use of indiscriminate weapons. The principal treaties include the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, the Hague Conventions, and related instruments; much of IHL also reflects customary international law. Non-international armed conflicts are governed in part by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and AP II.

Enforcement rests primarily on state responsibility and individual accountability for war crimes, with mechanisms including national courts, international tribunals, and, where applicable, the International Criminal Court. The International Committee of the Red Cross monitors respect for IHL and promotes compliance, while many states and NGOs work to implement and reinforce norms. IHL interacts with international human rights law and is regularly challenged by modern warfare, including non-state armed groups and new technologies, which continually test its application.