International Humanitarian Law

The first edition of this text was published in 1990, and over the seven years between the editions much has happened, both in the occurrence of conflict and in relation to its control and conduct. As a result, this second edition presents a large amount of new material, both in relation to developments in substantive law and in the application of law to the conflicts which have marked the closing decades of the 20th century. This book commences with a historical review of theory and practice in the limitation of warfare, before proceeding to chapters on the institutions and modes of implementation of the law. Categories of victims of armed conflict are considered, including some of the many questions which have arisen since the 1991 Gulf Conflict and the events in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda. The developments in controls on methods and means of warfare, including the restriction of blinding laser weapons and landmines are also considered. The book then looks at the developments in law relating to non-international armed conflicts and finally, it explores the potentially significant proceedings of the International Criminal Tribunals for former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.