![]() ![]() The battle of Britain was an air battle the war in the Pacific depended on close integration of naval and air power. ![]() Balloons existed before aircraft and their use in war was regulated in 1899, but aircraft as such were not in use in warfare until the early years of the 20th century.Īircraft were extensively used in World War II. The Manual does, however, reaffirm that IHL cannot be set aside in circumstances covered by that law such as exclusion zones.Ĭompared with sea warfare, aerial warfare is relatively modern. More general legal issues of public international law are covered by the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Manual limits itself primarily to international humanitarian law’s application at sea during armed conflict. The list includes such examples as mine laying, troop carrying, intelligence gathering, sailing under military convoy, resisting stop and search, and carrying significant armament.Įqually the Manual lists ships that may not be attacked such as hospital ships, coastal rescue craft, vessels carrying prisoners of war, passenger vessels carrying only civilians, coastal fishing craft and lifeboats. The Manual provides a list of activities that would cause a non-military vessel to become a legitimate military target. Warships are military objectives, as are auxiliary vessels and merchant ships that directly help the military action of the enemy. This involves a definition of a military objective. It clarifies the application of the principle of distinction at sea, based on the 1977 Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. ![]() The Manual essentially reaffirmed and updated the interpretation of IHL as applied to war at sea. Instead, non-binding guidelines, namely the San Remo Manual of 1994 was drawn up by government and other experts, the ICRC and a number of National Societies. However, no new major treaty governing naval war was considered by the international community. Questions of civilian safety, the use of blockades and exclusion zones at sea continued to be raised in the naval wars in the Falklands/Islas Malvinas, in the Iran-Iraq war and the Gulf war. In World War II arbitrary attacks on hospital ships and Red Cross vessels carrying relief supplies again raised the issue of whether the balance between military and humanitarian needs in customary naval law was being respected. However, the means and methods of warfare during that conflict, in particular the use of submarines and attacks on neutral shipping, raised questions about the application of IHL. Until World War I, war at sea had been governed primarily by the Hague treaties and customary law. ![]()
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