The Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions in Context

The Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions remain a landmark in the development of international humanitarian law. The first two Additional Protocols were adopted by states in 1977. These protocols encompass the rules governing the treatment and protection of those in the power of an enemy, as well as the conduct of hostilities. Crucially, they address non-international armed conflicts and wars of national liberation. In 2005, a third additional protocol designating an additional distinctive humanitarian emblem was adopted in controversial circumstances.

The Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions in Context interprets the key rules and issues of the Additional Protocols and considers their application and implementation over the past forty years. Taking a thematic approach, the book examines subjects including the protection of women, armed non-state actors, relief operations, and prohibited weapons. Each chapter discusses the pertinence of existing laws, the challenges raised by the rules in the Additional Protocols, and what more could be done to better protect civilians. This book also considers whether new technologies, such as offensive cyber operations and autonomous weapons, need new treaty rules to regulate their application in armed conflict.

Annyssa Bellal, Senior Researcher, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Switzerland, ,Stuart Casey-Maslen, Honorary Professor, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria,

Annyssa Bellal is a Senior Researcher and the Executive Coordinator of the Geneva Peacebuilding Platform at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She teaches the law of armed conflict at the University of Bern, and various international law courses at Sciences-Po Paris and the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights. She has a doctorate in public international law and master's degrees in history and philosophy of law.

Stuart Casey-Maslen is Honorary Professor at the University of Pretoria in South Africa where he teaches the law of armed conflict, international human rights law, international counterterrorism law, jus ad bellum, and disarmament law. He has a doctorate in international humanitarian law and master's degrees in international human rights law and forensic ballistics.