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The Dilemma Of International Humanitarian Law: What And How It Protects

Zhema Shishi PhD
Department of History and Diplomatic Studies, Federal University Wukari P.M.B 1020 Wukari, Taraba State-Nigeria
Ochoga Edwin Ochoga
Department of Political Science, Federal University Lokoja Lokoja, Kogi State-Nigeria
DOI Crossref DOI 10.37547/tajssei/Volume02Issue08-12
tajssei 2020
VOL. 2 / NO. 08 AUGUST
FULL TEXT PP. 79-87
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VOLUME 2
ISSUE 08
YEAR 2020
PAGES 79-87
RESEARCH OVERVIEW

Abstract

Basically the International Humanitarian Law regime is to prevent armed conflicts and war crime,
considering the catastrophic effects of wars generally. This laudable objective clearly underscored
the kind of optimism most states expressed on this noble cause. In the contrary, a study of
International Humanitarian Law regime over the years has left scholars more critical. This has led to
divergent views about who it protects and how. While some studies questioned its evolution to be
Eurocentric, some others faulted it to be unviable, non-coercive and unenforceable. This paper
constitutes a scholarship on these studies and it contends that, the international humanitarian law is
a branch of public international law that deals with humanitarian interventions in wartime and war
crimes. The legal framework of the international humanitarian law is rooted in the Geneva
Conventions of 1949. The missing link is that, the critics of the international humanitarian law based
their argument on the operations of the judicial organ of the international humanitarian law, the
International Criminal Court. The critics had seen the Court as a coercive tool in the hands of the
western countries to witch-hunt African leaders. However, the operations of the Court should not be
used as a premise to diminish the legality of the law to protect its legal personality as provided for in
the Conventions. And it does not in any way invalidate the international humanitarian law of being
law. This is the angle that this paper stands differently from the previous studies.

RESEARCH TOPICS

Keywords

International humanitarian law , international law
SOURCES & SCHOLARSHIP

References

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  3. Humanitarian Law.( Handbook for
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  5. S.J,Goldstein, International Relations;
  6. Fouthe Edition(Priscilla Mcgreehn,2001);
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  8. Transformation, eleventh
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  11. Relations, (WW North and
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  19. Court in Africa: Status and Policy Issues
  20. (Congressional Research Service,Report
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  22. Kowalski, The international Criminal
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  24. foundations (JANUS,NET E-Journal of
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  26. Ibid See Echikwonye…
  27. International Committee of the Red
  28. Cross. Respect for International
  29. Humanitarian Law.( Handbook for
  30. Parliamentarians No.1999)
  31. International Committee of the Red
  32. Cross. Understanding the Humanitarian
  33. law:Basic Rules of the Geneva
  34. Conventions and their additional
  35. Protocols (ICEC,1983)
  36. See Chapter VII of the United Nations
  37. Charter
  38. Ibid
  39. International Committee of the Red
  40. Cross. Respect for International
  41. Humanitarian Law.( Handbook for
  42. Parliamentarians No.1999)
  43. A.B. Echekwonye. General Principles of
  44. international Law. (Unpublished lecture
  45. note, Benue State University Makurdi,
  46. See Geneva Conventions and Additional
  47. Protocol I
  48. See S.J,Goldstein, International
  49. Relations; Fourth Edition(Priscilla
  50. Mcgreehn,2001); K.W. Charles, World
  51. Politics: Trends and Transformation,
  52. eleventh edition(Thomson
  53. Wadsworth,2007); M.A, Karen, Essentials
  54. of International Relations, (WW North
  55. and Company,2004) ; J,T.Rourke, Taking
  56. Side, Clashing Views on Controversial
  57. Isuues in World Politics (McGrano
  58. Hills/Dushkin,2005); C. Brown,
  59. understanding international Relations
  60. (New York Palgrave,2001); M.A.,
  61. Margesson, International Criminal Court
  62. in Africa: Status and Policy Issues
  63. (Congressional Research Service,Report
  64. for Congress,RL34665,2011 ), M.,
  65. Kowalski, The international Criminal
  66. Court: Reflections for a Stress Test on its
  67. foundations (JANUS,NET E-Journal of
  68. international relations,1(2autumn))
  69. These rules are listed in Protocol I
  70. additional to the Geneva Conventions and
  71. must be respected at all times and in all
  72. places by the States party to the
  73. Conventions.
  74. (see Repressing violations of
  75. international humanitarian law).