WAR AND CRIME GENOCIDE

War and Crime Genocide

[Name of the Institute]

Critically Evaluate Whether The Laws Of War Give Sufficient Protection To Civilian Populations

Over the years a number of wars have taken place, and the civilians are the one who are mainly the victims. These innocent civilians are tortured, killed and left half dead due to bombing. However, on the other hand, this is clearly viewed by a number of newspaper, writers and even poets. They have highlighted the deaths of numerous innocent civilians. In the past there were no such laws to protect and safeguard these people. One of the foremost reasons for choosing this topic is the issue and the problems face by a number of innocent people living in all across the globe (Knox, Donald. 1981, pp: 17). The earliest concept of war laws are to be found in religious scriptures and figures, warfare has always been subjected to certain principles and customs. However, the modern laws regarding the protection of civilians during armed conflict are derived from a long process of states agreeing to treaties to safeguard women, children, non-military personnel or non-combatants. This was then extended in the 1977 protocols to prisoners of wars as well as the sick and wounded. The civilian protection in war is defined by the United Nations as being "a generic concept of humanitarian policies involving a series of protective elements drawn from a range of areas, including international humanitarian law and human rights, and military sectors of security, and humanitarian aid". These elements now include protection tasks assigned to peace operations. Many people still suffer abuses in almost every home conflict. Is this due to negligence of the belligerent's vis-à-vis international conventions? Do the illegal actors maintain this situation to carry out their dirty work? Or international bodies are they not tough enough to punish the perpetrators of atrocities? This analysis will propose first to examine the motives that explain these abuses (Cohen, 1993, p. 97-115). Then we do a history of international law while analyzing existing texts on the protection of civilians and decisions, before stating some perspectives ultimate resolution of this problem.

Civilians in Permanent Threats In Conflict Zones

Since the 19th century, many international conventions recommended to protect civilians. There is no denying that in contemporary peace operations, people are still murdered, maimed, raped or private humanitarian aid by various actors who act according to their interests and in defiance of conventional rules. Among perpetrators of civilian populations, there are first the combatants. Whether the rebels, armed militias and regular armies, they take turns terrorizing the civilian population to get them to support them unconditionally. Thus, they violate outrageously Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions which prohibits, in Article 13, "acts or threats of violence whose primary purpose is to spread terror among the civilian population" (Cohen, 1993, p. 97-115). Then, there are the illegal actors and particularly gangs and organized crime that also sow terror among the people by hoarding material goods mainly or engaging in ...