International humanitarian law (IHL) is a set of rules established to limit the effects of armed conflict on people, culture and property at times of armed conflict. It protects persons who do not, or no longer, participate in the fighting, and sets limits as to how warfare is to be conducted. It is also commonly known as the law of war or the law of armed conflict.
Getting started:
- ASIL research guide and EISILresearch tool
- ICRC’s War and International Humanitarian Law portal
Treaties: Documents and Tools
Much of international humanitarian law is encapsulated in the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols, which seek to protect victims of war. IHL also covers the regulation of the use of force and the conduct of states and individuals in warfare.
International Customary Law
National law
- ICRC National Implementation Database
- Oxford Reports on International Law: International Law in Domestic Courts
- i.lex: The Legal Research System for International Law in U.S. Courts
International courts and Tribunal Cases
Online:
- Oxford Reports on International Law: International Criminal Law/International Human Rights Law
- International law reports
- WorldLii International Courts & Tribunals Collection
- Basic Documents and Jurisprudence of International/ized Criminal Courts and Tribunals
- Interights - Commonwealth and International Human Rights Case Law Databases
- HRW Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. A Topical Digest of the Case Law of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
- Digest of United States Practice in International Law
Selective Print sources
- Global War Crimes Tribunal Collection (1997-)
- Annotated Leading cases of International criminal Tribunals (1999-)
- Commonwealth human rights law digest (1996-)
- Digest of jurisprudence of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, 2003-2005
Useful websites:
- Library of Congress Military Resources
- Avalon Project: Laws of War
- US Naval War College Stockton e-portal
Useful print sources:
- Handbook of international humanitarian law (2008)
- International humanitarian law (2003-2006)
- Constraints on the waging of war : an introduction to international humanitarian law (2011)
- Archbold, international criminal courts practice, procedure and evidence (2009)
- Cassese, International criminal law (2008)
- Cryer et al., An introduction to international criminal law and procedure (2010)
- Schabas, International criminal law (2012)
- Bassiouni, Introduction to international criminal law (2013)
- International criminal justice : a critical analysis of institutions and procedures (2007)
- The Oxford companion to international criminal justice (2009)
