>> Home

8. Law of Armed Conflicts

1. General Works
2. Treaties and Related Documents
3. Travaux préparatoires
4. Commentaries
5. International Cases
6. International Organizations
7. Practice
8. Bibliographies
9. Periodicals
10. NGOs and Research Institutions

1. General Works

• Lauterpacht, H., Oppenheim’s International Law: volume II, Disputes, War and Neutrality, 7th edition, 1952.
• Rousseau, Ch., Le droit des conflits armés, Pedone, 1983.
• Frits Kalshoven & Liesbeth Zegveld, Constraints on the waging of war: an introduction to international humanitarian law, 3rd ed., ICRC 2001.
• Fleck, D., The Handbook of Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts, Oxford UP, 2nd ed, 2008.
• Eric David, Principes de droit des conflits armés, Bruylant, 4^e ed, 2008.

2. Treaties and Related Documents

• ICRC, International Humanitarian Law - Treaties & Documents: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf
• ICC Legal Tools: http://www.legal-tools.org/en/what-are-the-icc-legal-tools/ (under construction)
• Schindler/Toman, The Laws of Armed Conflicts, Nijhoff.
• Roberts/Guelff, Documents on the Laws of War, OUP.
• J.M. Henckaerts and L. Doswalt-Beck, eds., Customary International Humanitarian Law, 2 vols. (3 books), ICRC, Cambridge UP: http://www.cicr.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/pcustom
• Marco Sassoli & Antoine Bouvier, How Does Law Protect in War, 2 Vols., ICRC.

3. Travaux préparatoires

3.1 The Hague Peace Conferences

3.1.1 The 1989 Conference

• Conférence internationale de la paix, La Haye , 18 mai-29 juillet 1899, M. Nijhoff :
  http://www.archive.org/details/laconfrenceint00inteuoft
• The proceedings of the Hague Peace Conferences; translation of the official texts, OUP :
  http://www.archive.org/details/proceedingsofhag1899inteuoft

3.1.2 The 1907 Conference

• Deuxième Conférence internationale de la paix. La Haye 15 juin - 18 octobre 1907. Acts et documents 3 v. :
  http://www.archive.org/details/deuximeconfr01inteuoft
  http://www.archive.org/details/deuximeconfr02inteuoft
  http://www.archive.org/details/deuximeconfr03inteuoft
  
• The proceedings of the Hague Peace Conferences; translation of the official texts, OUP,? 4v.:
  http://www.archive.org/details/proceedingsofhag01inteuoft
  http://www.archive.org/details/proceedingsofhag02inteuoft
  http://www.archive.org/details/proceedingsofhag03inteuoft

3.1.3. Index to documents of the two conferences:

• http://www.archive.org/details/proceedingsofhag04inteuoft [index]

3.2 The Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1949

• Final record of the Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1949:
  http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Geneva-Conventions_materials.html

3.3 The Diplomatic Conference of Geneva, 1974-1977

• Official Documents
  • Official records of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, Geneva (1974-1977).
  • Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons:
    http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Geneva-Conventions_materials.html
• Privately edited travaux préparatoires
  • Protection of war victims: Protocol 1 to the 1949 Geneva conventions / [edited] by Howard S. Levie, Oceana Publications, 4 v.
  • Law of non-international armed conflict : Protocol II to the 1949 Geneva conventions / edited by Howard S. Levie, M. Nijhoff, 1987.
    - Useful compilations of documents, which sort relevant documents according to articles of the two protocols. They do not, however, include records which are not reflected in the protocols as adopted.

4. Commentaries

• ICRC Commentaries: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf
  • The Geneva conventions of 12 August 1949. Commentary/ ed. by Pictet,J.S., ICRC, 1952-60, 4v. [Original: French]
  • Commentary on the additional protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 / by Claude Pilloud, Yves Sandoz, Christophe Swinarski, Bruno Zimmermann, Nijhoff, 1987.
• Other Commentaries
  • New rules for victims of armed conflicts : commentary on the two 1977 protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 / by Michael Bothe, Karl Josef Partsch, Waldemar A. Solf, Nijhoff, 1982.
  • The protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflict : commentary on the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and its protocol, signed on 14 May, 1954 in the Hague, and on other instruments of international law concerning such protection / Jiri Toman, Dartmouth, 1996.
  • The Law of naval warfare: a collection of agreements and documents with Commentaries / N. Ronzitti, Nijhoff, 1988

5. International Cases

-> see also 2. International Courts and Tribunals

• International Military Tribunals established after the World War II
  • IMT (Nremberg): Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal : Proceedings Volumes　(The Blue Series)
    • United States Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/Nuremberg_trials.html
    • Avalon Project (Yale Univ.): http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/imt.asp
  • Trials of War Criminals before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10 (The Green Series)
    • United States Library of Congress: http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/NTs_war-criminals.html
  • IMTFE (Tokyo): No Official Materials have been published
    • Judgments and Selected Documents
      • Neil Boister & Robert Cryer,Documents on the Tokyo International Military Cribunal: Charter, Indictment and Judments, OUP 2008
    • Record Proceedings (privately edited)
      • The Tokyo war crimes trial, annotated, compiled and edited by R. John Pritchard & Sonia Magbanua Zaide, Garland Pub., 1981, 27 vols.
      • R. John Pritchard, ed., The Tokyo Major War Crimes Trial: The Records of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East , Edwin Mellen Press, 1998-2005, 124 vols.
  • Law Reports of Trials of War Criminals (Selected and prepared by the United Nations War Crimes Commission )
    Reprint Version, 15 v., Hein, 1997-: http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/law-reports-trials-war-criminals.html
• Domestic case law: http://www.icrc.org/ihl-nat

6. Intergovernmental Organizations

• International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission (IHFFC): http://www.ihffc.org/en/index.html

7. Practice

7.1 Domestic Laws Compilations

• ICRC
  • J.M. Henckaerts and L. Doswalt-Beck, eds., Customary International Humanitarian Law, 2 vols. (3 books), ICRC, Cambridge UP: http://www.cicr.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/pcustom
  • Implementing Laws and Regulations: http://www.icrc.org/ihl-nat
• T.M.C.Asser Instituut Documentary Database: http://www.asser.nl/Default.aspx?site_id=9&level1=13339
• Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law ("Correspondents Reports")
• International Review of the Red Cross ("Reports and documents"): http://www.icrc.org/eng/review

7.2 Military Manuals

• Canada
  • Office of the Judge Advocate General (Canada), The Law of Armed Conflict at the Operational and Tactical Level (2001):
    http://www.cfd-cdf.forces.gc.ca/sites/page-eng.asp?page=3481
    http://www.forces.gc.ca/jag/publications/Training-formation/LOAC-DDCA_2004-eng.pdf
  • CF Code of Conduct Manual:
    http://www.forces.gc.ca/jag/publications/Training-formation/CFCC-CCFC-eng.pdf
• France
  • Ministère de la defense, Secrétariat général pour l’administration, Manuel de droit des conflicts armés (2008): http://www.defense.gouv.fr/sga/enjeux_defense/droit_et_defense/manuel_de_droit_des_conflits_armes
• Germany
  • Bundesministerium der Verteidigung, Zentrale Dienstvorschrift 15/2: Humanitäres Völkerrecht in bewaffneten Konflikten, 1992, in D. Fleck, heraus., Handbuch Humanitäres Völkerrecht, Munchen 1994.
    • English translation in Fleck, D. (ed.), The Handbook of Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts (Oxford University Press, 1995)
      - Note that the 2nd edition of Fleck's Handbook, published in 2008, is rather a general introduction to the international law of armed conflicts than a translation of German laws and regulations.
• Italy: Manuale di diritto umanitario applicabile a conflitti armati in mare (Manual of humanitarian law applicable to armed conflicts at sea)（1994）:
  http://www.difesa.it/NR/rdonlyres/72505FA5-1530-42A0-92DC-6147B4FBF539/0/ricerche_cemiss.pdf
• United Kingdom
  • UK Ministry of Defence (ed.), The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict (Oxford University Press, 2004).
• United States
  • Army: http://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pamphlets_manuals.html
  • The Commander's Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations:
    • http://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/a9b8e92d-2c8d-4779-9925-0defea93325c/1-14M_(Jul_2007)_(NWP)
    • http://www.usnwc.edu/Research---Gaming/International-Law/RightsideLinks/Studies-Series/documents/Naval-War-College-vol-73.aspx (with commentaries)
• List of Military Manuals of Various States
  • J.M. Henckaerts and L. Doswalt-Beck, eds., Customary International Humanitarian Law, ICRC, 2 vols. (3 books), 2005, Vol.2, Part 2, pp .4196-4285: http://www.cicr.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/pcustom
    

8. Bibliographies

• Bibliography of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, 2nd ed., ICRC & Henry Dunant Institute, 1987.
• Fleck, D., The Handbook of Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts, Oxford UP, 2nd ed, 2008, pp.725-758.
• Ingrid Detter, The Law of War, Cambridge UP, 2000, pp.443-492.
• Eric David, Principes de droit des conflits armes, 4e ed, 2008, pp.1047-1073.
• Robert Kolb, Ius in bello: Le droit international des conflits armés: Precis, 2^e Edition, Helbing Lichtenhahn/ Bruylant, 2009, pp.499-551.

9. Periodicals

• Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=YHL
• International Review of the Red Cross:
  http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=IRC
  http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/review?OpenDocument
• Journal of Conflict and Security Law: http://jcsl.oxfordjournals.org/

10. NGOs and Research Institutions

• Crimes at War Project: http://www.crimesofwar.org/index.html
• International Humanitarian Law Research Initiative: http://ihl.ihlresearch.org/
• International Institute of Humanitarian Law: http://www.iihl.org/
• Société Internationale de Droit Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre: http://www.soc-mil-law.org/
• T.M.C. Asser Instituut: http://www.asser.nl/