On The Protection Of Civilians In Armed Conflict

According to traditional international law,armed conflicts are all ACTS of armed struggle between states or other armed groups,and only wars between states are wars in the sense of international law.It was not until the convening of the international conference on the reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian law diplomacy applicable to armed conflicts in 1974-1977 that the term "war" was largely dropped.Since then,"armed conflict" is even more clearly divided into "international armed conflict" and "non-international armed conflict".Although this is different from the expression "war",the nature of fighting by force is the same.In the traditional law of war,the civilian in the narrow sense refers to the peaceful residents who are located in the territory of a belligerent state and do not belong to the belligerents.Civilians have been the main victims of armed conflicts since their inception.In many of today's armed conflicts,civilian casualties and the destruction of civilian infrastructure are not only the by-products of war but also the deliberate targeting of non-combatants.In many conflicts,the enemy has targeted civilians in order to drive away or eliminate some of the population and accelerate military surrender.War or armed conflict should be confined to combatants and should not harm the innocent.Civilians enjoy general protection from the effects of hostilities.The protection of civilians in armed conflicts is motivated not only by humanitarian sympathy for the weak but also by respect for human rights.It is in the fundamental interest of all mankind to punish crimes in serious violation of international humanitarian law and to safeguard the peace,security,justice and order of human society as a whole.This year marks the 70 th anniversary of the adoption of the Geneva conventions and the20 th anniversary of the security council's agenda for the protection of civilians in armed conflict.As one of the core issues of the security council,the issue of the protection of civilians in armed conflicts has drawn great attention from the international community.At the same time,civilians continue to be the first victims of war and armed conflict,accounting for the vast majority of casualties.At present,the international security situation remainsgrave.Armed clashes have continued in some areas,causing heavy civilian casualties.The international community should take pragmatic and effective measures to ensure the safety of civilians in conflicts.This paper is divided into the following four parts:The first part of the introduction mainly introduces the research purpose,research significance,research status at home and abroad,research methods and so on.The second part,on the one hand,introduces the relevant principles of civilian protection,such as the principle of distinction,the principle of proportionality and the principle of prohibition of reprisals.On the other hand,it introduces the development of a series of rules and treaties in the international community on the protection of civilians in armed conflicts,from the earliest liber code to the most comprehensive Geneva conventions and their additional protocols.The third part analyzes the legislative and practical difficulties in protecting civilians in armed conflict.In the legislative dilemma,the author mainly studies the fuzzy identification criteria of civilians,the difficulty in distinguishing military objects from civilian objects,and the lack of protection rules for war reporters.In practical dilemma,the author focuses on the analysis of "human shield",humanitarian relief and punishment mechanism.The fourth part,from the perspective of legislation and practice,probes into the solutions to the legislative and practical dilemmas analyzed in the third part.In terms of legislation,the international community should reasonably improve relevant treaties on the protection of civilians.In practice,countries around the world should limit the practice of "human shields",ensure timely and effective humanitarian assistance and strengthen the punishment of groups or individuals after the war.