16 National Implementation

Subject(s):

Armed conflict, international — Conduct of hostilities — Grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions — Treaties, breach

This chapter discusses the national implementation of the rules within the two 1977 Additional Protocols. It notes the lack of national implementation provisions in the Additional Protocol II, which only focused on the duty to disseminate the Protocol as widely as possible. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) broadly treats the concept of implementation in line with encompassing respect for the rules of the international humanitarian law (IHL). The chapter then considers the dissemination of rules and the requisite instructions and legal advisors to the armed forces. It highlights the importance of every State having national legislation in place to give effect to its obligations under the IHL.