Chapter

Reparation for damage suffered as a consequence of breaches of the law of war

Natalino Ronzitti

International law for common goods : normative perspectives on human rights, culture and nature

Oxford ; Portland : Hart, 2014

p. 103-115

English

Photocopies

Violations of the law of war may happen both as a breach of rules of international armed conflicts or rules of non-international armed conflicts. For the first category, the law to be considered is that contained in the Hague Convention No IV of 1907 and in Protocol I of 1977, additional to the Four Geneva Conventions. Both state that a belligerent is responsible for the conduct of its armed forces. The central issue is determining whether they only regulate State-to-State relations or if they may also be invoked by an individual victim before a domestic tribunal. Until recently, only violations of law in international armed conflicts came into consideration. Jus ad bellum is properly concerned with inter-state violence, whilst the use of force against rebels during a civil war is not regarded as a violation of international law. Jus in bello rules relate both to international and non-international armed conflicts. However, the codification of rules on reparations for violations of jus in bello has, until now, only dealt with international armed conflict. For non-international armed conflict there is no general rule and norms regulating reparations should be extracted from State practice or from general principles of law.

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