Armed Conflicts from the Perspective of International Humanitarian Law

Abstract

This study aims to discuss armed conflicts from the perspective of International Humanitarian Law (IHL). As a methodology it employs a literature review on doctrines, laws, treaties and conventions that govern the subject under analysis, seeking to demonstrate that the universalist perspective of contemporary International Law should prevail over the positivist legal absurdity of only seeing the individual consent of States, the treaties and the vision of interstate International Law, considering that the international logic, which privileges power over international legal awareness, is incapable of envisioning the needs and aspirations of the international community as a whole. To this end, the following themes were addressed: the historical evolution of war and humanitarian law, differentiating war from armed conflict, discussing the principles of humanitarian law and presenting some meanings of war, namely: just or legal war; and defensive warfare; the classification and main causes of armed conflicts characterizing these conflicts in light of IHL; and, finally, the staff's ethics in conducting a war. In the end, it was concluded that despite the norms of International Law aims to curb abuses in wars and armed conflicts, the law does not dispense with the use of force, and is based on the law of the strongest, which only sometimes coincides with the right of the fairest, which undermines legal pacifism and social stability.