URCS reminds: Violations of International Humanitarian Law may constitute war crimes
Violations of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) may be classified as war crimes and carry criminal liability, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) has reminded.
"International Humanitarian Law stipulates that even during war, the use of force is not unlimited. Its rules are designed to protect civilians, the wounded, the sick, and prisoners of war, as well as to prevent excessive suffering and destruction," the URCS stated on Facebook.
IHL prohibits means and methods of warfare that are indiscriminate, cause excessive suffering, or inflict widespread, long‑term, and severe damage to the natural environment.
It bans the conduct of hostilities using chemical, biological, and toxic weapons. International Humanitarian Law also prohibits the use of weapons with fragments that cannot be detected by X‑ray, explosive or deforming bullets, poisons, and poisonous substances.
Certain types of weapons are not completely banned but are subject to strict limitations. For example, incendiary weapons may not be used against civilians or civilian objects.
In addition, IHL forbids methods of warfare such as indiscriminate attacks, terrorizing the civilian population, using starvation as a method of war, destroying objects essential for civilian survival, attacks on medical units and sanitary transport, the use of "human shields," and orders to leave no one alive.
Perfidy is also prohibited, including the unlawful use of the emblems of the Red Cross, Red Crescent, or Red Crystal.