Book

Antipersonnel mines, booby traps and improvised explosive devices as war crimes

Luke Moffett... [et al.]

Belfast : Queen's University Belfast Human Rights Centre, 2017

26 p. ; 30 cm

English

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In August 2017 Belgium proposed an amendment to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court to include inter alia anti-personnel mines as war crimes. This report based on research on international law, state practice and jurisprudence outlines the status and legality of anti-personnel mines and booby-traps on the extent to which they can be considered war crimes. Drawing from this research the report also proposes draft provisions of what such war crimes would look like under the Rome Statute. The report is split into two parts. The first part examines the legality of anti-personnel mines, their position under conventional and customary law, in particular international humanitarian law. The second part explores the legality of booby-traps and other improvised explosive devices. Although Belgium has not proposed an amendment to the Rome Statute to include these types of weaponry, the report includes booby-traps and other improvised explosive devices for consideration as a war crime as some 14,301 civilians in 2016 were killed or seriously injured by such weapons.

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