International Humanitarian Law

D.A.S.A.Leelarathna2010/L/6078

Faculty of LawUniversity of Colombo

Approach to the Presentation

“As in a boxing match, pummeling the opponent's upper body is fine; hitting below the belt is proscribed. As long as the rules of the game are observed, it is permissible to cause suffering , deprivation of freedom, and death”.

Prof. Theodor Meron The Humanization of Humanitarian Law

VIETNAM WAR

Parties Involved

North Vietnam

(The Soviet Union and the People's

Republic of China)

VsSouth Vietnam

(United States of America)

Between 1st Nov. 1955 – 30th April 1975

The BackgroundIn July 1954, after one hundred years of colonial rule, a defeated France was forced to leave Vietnam

The Geneva Peace Accords, signed by France and Vietnam in the summer of 1954, provided for the temporary partition of Vietnam at the 17th parallel, with national elections in 1956 to reunify the country. In the North, a communist regime, supported by the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China, set up its headquarters in Hanoi under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh

US Involvement- Basically to hold the line against the spread of world Communism.

The Nature of the Conflict

At First, this was an internal Conflict of Vietnam(Non-International) In 1955, with the help of massive amounts of American

military, political, and economic aid, the government of the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) was born.

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The responses of the International Community to the conflict

War protesters gathered in Saigon to express dissatisfaction with the way the Diem government was handling South Vietnam ’ s internal political dissension.

Antiwar Protests

The Applicability of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols of 1977

Vietnam Ratified Geneva Conventions 28-06-1957

United States of America signed Geneva Conventions in 1949 and Ratified 02-08-1955

No Applicability of Additional Protocols of 1977 to this Conflict

The law of Geneva,

designed to 1. safeguard military personnel who are no longer

taking part in the fighting and 2. people not actively involved in hostilities, i.e.

civilians;

3. IHL has two branches: The law of Geneva,

The law of The Hague

1. With the adoption of the Additional Protocols of 1977 to Geneva Convention, which combine both branches of law.

Violations of Humanitarian Law

The My Lai Massacre

“Operation Ranch Hand”

The defoliation program, using Agent Orange.

The United States therefore used unconventional weapons

U.S. soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed Vietnamese civilians in a small village ,“My Lai”.

The My Lai Massacre (March 1968)

Murder in the name of war - My Lai In the course of three hours more than 500

Vietnamese civilians were killed in cold blood at the hands of US troops. The soldiers had been on a "search and destroy" mission to root out communist fighters in what was fertile Viet Cong territory.

These alleged acts could possibly be violations of Treaty Law ?

Common Article 3 of the Geneva ConventionsI (a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;IV Geneva Convention – Article 31“No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised against protected persons, in particular to obtain information from them or from third parties.”IV Geneva Convention- Article 32Prohibition of corporal punishment

IV Geneva Convention- Article 27

Women shall be especially protected against any attack their honour in particular against rape, enforced prostitution or any form of incident assault.

Application of Customary International Law

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“Operation Ranch Hand” – the defoliation program, using Agent Orange

This deadly chemical cocktail, containing dioxin, killed off millions of acres of jungle to try to weaken the Vietcong – but left a horrendous legacy in Vietnam.

The dioxin got into the food chain causing chromosome damage to humans. There were hundreds of cases of children born with deformities.

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Thank You!