Chapter

Need for humanitarianism in internal strifes

Rup C. Hingorani

Etudes et essais sur le droit international humanitaire et sur les principes de la Croix-Rouge : en l'honneur de Jean Pictet = Studies and essays on international humanitarian law and Red Cross principles : in honour of Jean Pictet

Genève : CICR ; La Haye : Nijhoff, 1984

p. 343-348

English

The author examines how the Additional Protocol II (APII) functions to alleviate the hardships of people involved in civil strife and what other measures are necessary to expand its coverage. The APII protects civilian populations in Articles 13-15 and 17-18 from enemy attacks, starvation, major strikes, and forced [displacersement ]; it also protects those subject to physical confinement, potential war criminals, and sick and injured individuals. The APII also encompasses prohibitions on torture and collective punishment. He suggests that APII should be expanded to cover pre-conflict periods of “tension and disturbances” that may precede the civil strife that APII covers, in order to restrain governments that use brutality to suppress protestors during these times. The author further suggests a requirement to inform detainees’ families of their imprisonment, and a provision to protect families of dissidents from physical or financial coercion. Moreover, he calls for the prohibition of the death penalty, and that the presence of international observers be mandatory in trials of political dissidents. [Summary by students at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (IHRP)].

• More information is available for logged in users

• Etudes et essais sur le droit international humanitaire et sur les principes de la Croix-Rouge : en l'honneur de Jean Pictet = Studies and essays on international humanitarian law and Red Cross principles : in honour of Jean Pictet / Christophe Swina