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Humanitarian Law and the Man in the Field

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2016

L. G. Green
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Extract

In 1974 there took place in Geneva the first session of a diplomatic conference called by Switzerland at the instance of the International Committee of the Red Cross to update the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, particularly with a view to the more careful definition and exposition of what might be described as the fundamental humanitarian principles of law with regard to armed conflict. While it would be an unduly narrow assumption that humanitarian law is only relevant to an armed conflict, it must not be forgotten that breaches thereof are more likely to occur at such a time, for the man in the field has normally been trained to overthrow and if possible kill enemy personnel, even to the extent that occasionally his basic training may be in conflict with the requirements of the law of war. Generally speaking, the ordinary noncommissioned officer is unlikely to stress overmuch the restriction on the permitted means and methods of warfare to be found in the Regulations attached to Hague Convention IV of 1907. Moreover, the ideological campaigns which accompany any major war, with comments by politicians, commanders, and media alike, implying that the enemy has resorted to conduct that might only be expected from those who have placed themselves outside the protection of law or morality accompanied by insulting nicknames that suggest the enemy is not even human, all contribute to the ordinary soldier's idea that destruction of the enemy is the aim and the end regardless of the means employed to achieve it. Examples of this type of situation may be seen in both world wars, as well as in relation to the campaigns in Korea and Vietnam. However, international law has always recognized that there is a law of war and that breaches thereof may result in punishment. The simplest means of imposing such punishment, without at the same time appearing to abandon all sense of legal propriety, is by way of the trial of war criminals.

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Articles
Information
Canadian Yearbook of International Law/Annuaire canadien de droit international , Volume 14 , 1977 , pp. 96 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © The Canadian Council on International Law / Conseil Canadien de Droit International, representing the Board of Editors, Canadian Yearbook of International Law / Comité de Rédaction, Annuaire Canadien de Droit International 1977

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References

1 75 UNTS 31, 85, 135, 287; Geneva Conventions Act, R.S.C. 1970, G-3.

2 See, e.g., U.S. v. Keenan (1969) 39 C.M.R. 108.

3 Scott, , The Hague Conventions and Declarations of 1899 and 1907 (1918) 100 Google Scholar, Schindler, and Toman, , The Laws of Armed Conflicts (1973), 57.Google Scholar

4 London Charter, Aug. 8, 1945, 82 UNTS 280; Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 689.

5 See, e.g., Mullins, , The Leipzig Trials (1921).Google Scholar

6 See, e.g., Green, , “Superior Orders and the Reasonable Man,” (1970) 8 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 61 at 96 et seq.; Superior Orders in National and International Law (1976), 126 et seq.Google Scholar

7 Art. 5, 118 LNTS 343, Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 261.

8 International Law, vol. 2 (6th ed., 1940).

9 See, e.g., U.S. v. Keenan, supra note 2.

10 See Green, Superior Orders in National and International Law, supra note 6.

11 “Ignorance of the law, which every man is bound to know, excuses no man” (see Selden, , Table Talk (1689)Google Scholar, “Law”); 4 Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, ch. 2, s.v. (10th ed., 1787, 27).

12 Conventions of 1899, and 1907, supra note 3.

13 See, for 1929, 5 Hudson, International Legislation, 1, 20; for 1949, supra note 1, and International Committee of the Red Cross, International Red Cross Handbook (1971), 28 et seq. Both the Hague and Geneva Conventions are printed in Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 247, 261, 295, 323, 345, 417.

14 Scott, op. cit., supra note 3, at 100.

15 See 2 Oppenheim, , International Law, (1st ed. 1906) 63, 74.Google Scholar

16 Schwarzenberger, , International Law, Vol. 2, The Law of Armed Conflict (1968), ch. 39.Google Scholar

17 112 B.F.S.P. 1; 13 Am. J. Int’l Law (1919), Supp.

18 (1921) H.M.S.O., Cmd. 450 ( Cameron, , The Peleus Trial (1948)Google Scholar, App. IX).

19 U.S. Adjutant General’s Office, General Order No. 100; Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 3.

20 Scott, , Resolutions of the Institute of International Law (1916), 26 Google Scholar; Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 35.

21 Scott, op. cit., supra note 3, at 102.

22 Ibid.

23 Art. 20, Scott, op. cit., supra note 3, at 163.

24 I Am. J. Int’l L. (1907), Supp. 90; Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 203.

25 1923, 17 Am. J. Int’l L. (1923), Supp. 245; Schindler and Toman, supra note 3, at 139.

26 Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 139; see also, 2 Oppenheim, op. cit., supra, (7th ed., 1952), 519; Spaight, Air Power and War Rights (1947), 42–43;

27 I.L.A., Report of 40th (Amsterdam) Conference, 40; Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 155.

28 5 Hudson, op. cit., supra note 13, at 15.

29 Ibid., 20.

30 75 UNTS 31.

31 Ibid., 85.

32 Ibid., 135.

33 Ibid., 297.

34 249 UNTS 240; Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 529.

35 181 LNTS 137; Schindler and Toman, op. cit., supra note 3, at 667.

36 See, e.g., Green, Superior Orders in National and International Law, supra note 6.

37 Dept. of the Army, FM27–10 (1956), para. 33.

38 See, e.g., Dept. of the Army, ASubjScd27-1, The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Hague Convention No. IV of 1907 (1970); 27–200, The Law of Land Warfare — A S elf-Instructional Text (1972).

39 For criticisms, see Green, , “Aftermath of Vietnam: War Law and the Soldier,” in Law and Society (1975), 397, 421 et seq. Google Scholar, or 4 Falk, , The Vietnam War and International Law: The Concluding Phase (1976), 147, 168 et seq.Google Scholar

40 Protocol I, Art. 69 bis, I.C.R.C. Doc. D 1395 b (1976).

41 See Green, letter on “Journalists in Battle Areas,” The Times (London), Mar. 1, 1976.

42 See supra note 40.

43 See his Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 (1952–8), and Le Droit Humanitaire et la Protection des Victimes de la Guerre (1973).

44 Mar. 21, 1951; see Tunkin, , Theory of International Law (1974), 85–86.Google Scholar

45 I.C.R.C., Doc. D 1388/1 b (1976).