Humanitarian law and its role in the period of hostilities

More recently, wars have been extremely destructive and have been characterized by exorbitant rigidity. This situation existed until the middle of the 19th century. However, society, fortunately, is able to develop not only technically, but also morally. In 1859, Henri Dunant of Switzerland, after seeing a terrible picture of the battlefield (under Solferino), with thousands of dead and doomed to death soldiers became the organizer of volunteer assistance. So the humanitarian law began to emerge.

Since then, many conferences have been held on this issue, and a number of conventions have been adopted:

• Geneva (1864) - to help soldiers and civilians affected in the course of hostilities on land.
• The Hague (1899 and 1907) - they collected the basic provisions with the prescriptions, which must be followed during military operations at sea.

However, let's understand that there is a humanitarian law from a legal point of view:

1. This is a system of legal norms, as well as principles that are applied during military conflicts.
2. It is based on legal traditions, customs, which were formed as a result of the conduct of hostilities.
3. Contained in contracts (international).

Let us examine in more detail the basic norms of humanitarian law. Mostly, these are, of course, prohibitions.

• You can not kill civilians, injure them, and use terrorist actions against them.
• The same applies to fighters who have laid down their arms or who have remained without them, as well as those who have been imprisoned.
• The parliamentarian and the persons accompanying him are inviolable.
• Humanitarian law prohibits taking people hostage.
• Attacks on points in which there are wounded, as well as on medical units and transport - are prohibited.
• You can not force a person to fight against his country, even if at the time of the outbreak of hostilities he was no longer its citizen.
• It is unacceptable to use weapons of mass destruction, as well as certain types of firearms, such as a pistol with bullets tearing. In general, all methods of destruction, entailing a painful death, European humanitarian law prohibits.
• It is not allowed to intentionally attack. The indiscriminate nature of hostilities entails a large number of victims.

This is not a complete list of prohibitions. In the event of violation of the rules of humanitarian law (which does not entail ordinary criminal responsibility), persons who do not comply with the rules are punished according to the Disciplinary Charter of the Russian Federation (as a rule, this is a liability).

Humanitarian law also provides for the rights of combatants and their duties.

• Victims of conflict must be protected by humanitarian law.
• In the process of combat operations and at their end, commanders of units are obliged to organize assistance to all the wounded.
• Prisoners of war must preserve all the rights of the individual: inadmissible inhumane attitude towards them, torture, bullying. In addition, prisoners are entitled to inform relatives about it within the first 7 days from the moment of seizure.
• Women and children should have special rights and protect themselves from encroachments not only on life, but also on honor and dignity.

The system of humanitarian law is supported by almost all countries.