Chapter

Legislative measures in international humanitarian law : a jigsaw of subtle fragmentation

Azra Kuci and Jelena Plamenac

The companion to international humanitarian law

Leiden ; Boston : Brill Nijhoff, 2018

p. 56-78

English

IHL has often been deemed outdated and frozen inside a rigid framework, unable to provide an adequate response to the changing reality of armed conflicts. This article contests such a view, arguing that IHL is an expanding corpus juris with legal means to address these challenges. The authors identify two main currents of IHL expansion: implementing legislative measures, which comprise all measures taken at the national level to implement existing IHL rules; and developing legislative measures, which come into existence at the international or national level as a response to the specific challenges - including international treaties focusing on specific topics, customary rules, decisions of international tribunals, and national legislation and jurisprudence. The authors argue that these measures have resulted in the advancement and strengthening of IHL rules, but that developing legislative measures adopted by some State at the national level are inconsistent with the main principles of IHL.

• Full text : restricted access (ICRC)

• The companion to international humanitarian law / ed. by Dražan Djukic, Niccolò Pons