What kind of acts are prohibited in armed conflicts?
International humanitarian law aims to limit the effects of violence on civilians by regulating way in which the parties to an armed conflict conduct military operations. IHL thus prohibits making the civilian population or individual civilians the object of attack, starvation of civilians as a method of warfare or the launching of an indiscriminate attack affecting the civilian population or civilian objects. Apart from rules on the conduct of hostilities, IHL also seeks to protect civilians who find themselves in enemy hands during armed conflict. It specifically prohibits murder, torture, mutilation, rape, corporal punishment, collective punishments, the taking of hostages or the denial of fair trial rights to civilians subject to criminal process. All of the acts listed above, and many others, are considered war crimes.
