The Law of Armed Conflict An Introduction

This textbook gives an up-to-date and comprehensive analysis of the law of armed conflict or international humanitarian law. The author has traced the history of the laws of war and examined their relations with human rights and refugee laws. The topics covered include protection to the victims of war: prisoners, civilians, women, children, journalists, the natural environment and cultural property. The book contains an updated account of the functioning of the International Criminal Court, and explores the concept of command responsibility, as well as the area of private military and security companies. Besides discussing the law during air and naval warfare, the author has critically examined certain challenges which humanitarian law is facing today from cyber warfare; drones, autonomous lethal weapons and nuclear weapons. This textbook is an invaluable resource for anyone interested or working in the field of international humanitarian law: teachers, students, lawyers, government officials, military and police personnel, researchers and human rights activists.

Wing Commander (Dr) U C Jha has extensive field and academic experience in international humanitarian law (IHL). He holds a Ph D degree in Law and Governance from Jawaharlal Nehru University. He has been teaching IHL for the last 15 years and is a resource person for the South Asian Teaching Sessions in IHL, conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross. His work comprises sixteen books and over 65 articles published in various journals and newspapers.
Dr. K. Ratnabali is a faculty member in the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi since 2004. She has taught International Humanitarian Law and its correlation with Human Rights Law as part of ‘Human Rights' subject in the LL.B curriculum for more than 10 years. She also teaches LL.M students the legal and social research methodology. Prior to joining as teaching faculty, she hadworked as an intern in the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, New Delhi and State Human Rights Commission, Manipur.

Preface, Foreword to the first edition, Preface to the first edition, Chapters, 1. International Humanitarian Law: Introduction, 2. Classification of Armed Conflicts, 3. IHL: Relation with Human Rights and Refugee Law, 4. Laws of Air and Naval Warfare, 5. Restrictions on Weapons and Methods in Warfare, 6. Protection of the Wounded and Sick in the Field and Shipwrecked, 7. Prisoners of War, 8. Protection of Civilians , 9. Protection of Special Groups: Women, 10. Protection of Special Group: Children , 11. Journalists and Media Personnel in Armed Conflict, 12. Environment: A Victim of Armed Conflict, 13. Protection of Cultural Property, 14. IHL and UN Peace Operations , 15. Mercenaries and Private Military Companies, 16. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 17. Command Responsibility , 18. Implementation of IHL, 19. International Committee of the Red Cross, 20. IHL: South Asian Countries, 21. New Challenges, Bibliography, Index