What are the laws of war?

International humanitarian law – known as the laws of war – establishes what can and cannot be done by parties to an armed conflict. These laws seek to minimize human suffering and protect civilians as well as combatants who are no longer taking part in hostilities, such as prisoners of war. The main treaties of international humanitarian law are the 1949 Geneva Conventions, adopted after the horrors of World War Two, and their additional Protocols.

Even so, many of the gravest human rights violations are committed in war. These include using rape as a weapon of war, recruiting children to serve on the frontlines, launching direct attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure and indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. Warring parties may also try to weaken communities as retaliation by obstructing humanitarian aid, such as food and medicine, even using starvation as a weapon of war.

Under the laws of war, civilians may not be deliberately targeted, although they may still be killed or injured if this happens as part of a proportionate attack on a military target. All parties to the conflict must take measures to minimize harm to civilians and “civilian objects” (such as residential buildings, schools and hospitals), and must not carry out attacks that fail to distinguish between civilians and combatants, or which cause disproportionate harm to civilians. 

Some of the most serious crimes under international law are committed during armed conflicts. These include:

War crimes– serious violations of international humanitarian law that include wilful killings, direct attacks on civilians, torture, use of prohibited weapons, the murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or others who have been captured, surrendered or injured and crimes of sexual violence.

Crimes against humanity– crimes committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack by or on behalf of a state or an organization against a civilian population during peace or wartime. There are 11 crimes against humanity including murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation or forcible transfer of a population, torture, rape and other serious forms of sexual violence, enforced disappearance and apartheid. Crimes against humanity may be committed in armed conflict or in peacetime.

Genocide– certain acts committed with the intent to destroy, completely or partially, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. Genocide may be committed in armed conflict or in peacetime.

Over time, the international community has established specialized courts to hold perpetrators of crimes under international law to account, such as the ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. International justiceis also served by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which recorded its first conviction in March 2012 against Thomas Lubanga, the leader of an armed group in Democratic Republic of Congo.

States can also use the principle of universal jurisdiction to pursue their own prosecutions of perpetrators of war crimes and other crimes under international law.

Who is most at risk in conflict?

Some civilian groups face increased risk of harm during wars. These include women, older people, people with disabilities, and children.

In 2021, more than 19,000 children were either recruited as child soldiers; killed or maimed; subjected to sexual violence; or abducted in armed conflicts. The greatest number of these UN-verified violations took place in Afghanistan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Myanmar, Somalia, Syria, and Yemen. Former child soldiers and others perceived to affiliated with armed groups are often unlawfully detained and subjected to torture, as Amnesty has reported on in Northeast Nigeria, or given little to no support to access education or to respond to their physical and mental health needs, as the organization documented in northern Iraq.

In many conflicts, fighting forces continue to use sexual violence against women and girls to deliberately inflict lasting physical and psychological damage. Amnesty International has documented how Ethiopian troops and militia, Eritrean soldiers,  as well as fighters from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, have subjected women and girlsto rape, gang rape, sexual slavery, sexual mutilation and other forms of torture.

Amnesty International has also carried out extensive research into the impact of conflict on older people. The organization found that older people in Northeast Nigeria have suffered in unique ways from the conflict between the military and Boko Haram that has raged for almost a decade. Amnesty revealed how many older people starved or were slaughtered in their homes, or were left to languish and die in squalid, unlawful military detention.

While researching war’s impact on people with disabilities, Amnesty International found that millions of Yemenis with disabilities struggled to access even the most basic humanitarian aid. Many were left behind as their families fled fighting, often because wheelchairs, crutches and other devices made it too difficult to escape. And, as in many conflict settings, access to psychosocial support was very hard to come by.

©Christopher Furlong/Getty ImagesHungarian police officers escort refugee children across the dark tracks at Zahony train station as the influx of refugees from Ukraine continues through the night on March 03, 2022 in Zahony, Hungary.

© Amnesty InternationalMigdad Ali Abdullah, an 18-year-old with limited mobility and difficulties in communicating, poses for a photo while sitting next to his mother outside the tent where they live in Mishqafa Camp, Yemen.