The Problems of Adherence to the Chemical and Biological Weapons Conventions

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Chemical And Biological Weapons

6 Means of Combat

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Longobardo Marco ◽  
Fleck Dieter
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Weapons Of Mass Destruction ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Effective Implementation ◽  
Conventional Weapons ◽  
Chemical And Biological Weapons

This chapter provides an overview of treaty and customary international law rules applicable to means of combat. Belligerents do not need an authorization from international humanitarian law in relation to a specific means of combat. Rather, they are free to develop, produce, stockpile, transfer, or use any particular weapon, except for those cases in which a prohibitive rule of international humanitarian law dictates to the contrary. In order to guarantee effective implementation of the prohibition of certain means and methods of warfare, it is necessary to provide for an efficient procedure to ensure the legality of new weapons. This procedure is preventive in nature and aims at providing the belligerents with means of combat that do not violate international law prohibitions. The chapter discusses the prohibition of certain conventional weapons and then looks at weapons of mass destruction, which are simply defined as nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. While the production, possession, and use of chemical weapons and biological weapons is prohibited under treaty law, the legal status of nuclear weapons is more complex.

Human Rights Watch Arms Project—Chemical and Biological Weapons Program

1996 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 114-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Nongovernmental Organization ◽  
Biological Weapons ◽  
Free Expression ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
The World ◽  
Chemical And Biological Weapons

Human Rights Watch is the largest U.S.-based independent human rights organization. It conducts regular, systematic investigations of human rights abuses in some seventy countries around the world. Human Rights Watch (HRW) includes five divisions, covering Africa, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, and the signatories of the Helsinki accords, and has four thematic projects: the Arms Project, the Women's Rights Project, the Children's Rights Project, and the Free Expression Project. HRW maintains offices in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, London, Brussels, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, Dushanbe, and Hong Kong. Human Rights Watch is a nongovernmental organization, supported by contributions from private individuals and foundations worldwide. It accepts no government funds.

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