Part II, 7 Weapons

Subject(s):

Human rights remedies — Military assistance — Armed conflict, international — Armed conflict, non-international — International crimes — Weapons — Military matters — Armed forces

This chapter discusses the regulation of weapons used during both ‘active hostilities’ and ‘security operations’. The law of armed conflict prohibits weapons of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering, and weapons that are by their nature indiscriminate. Also prohibited are weapons expected to cause long-term, widespread, and severe damage to the natural environment. International human rights law is consistent with these prohibitions. The remainder of the chapter deals with specific weapons: bacteriological or biological weapons, booby-traps, chemical weapons, dum-dum bullets, explosive or incendiary bullets, fragmentation weapons, incendiary weapons, landmines, and laser weapons.