In light of the controversial use of white phosphorus, should Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons be amended to take an effect based approach rather than a design based approach?

Keshavarzi, Sam (2017) In light of the controversial use of white phosphorus, should Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons be amended to take an effect based approach rather than a design based approach? Masters thesis, University of East Anglia.

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Abstract

N.B. As there is no abstract this is the 1st paragraph of the introduction.

This thesis focuses on Protocol III to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW). It will be argued that Protocol III should be amended to take an effects based approach rather than a design based approach. There will be particular attention to the use of white phosphorus as a munition in contemporary warfare to reach this conclusion. Currently states are able to exploit the ambiguity in the law. By doing so, the principles and values of international humanitarian law (IHL) are threatened. IHL regulates the conduct of war and when doing this, there is an aim to minimise human suffering. To offer humanitarian protection, a set of rules are applied to limit the effects of armed conflict as much as possible. These principles are proportionality, necessity and the prohibition of unnecessary suffering. The principles are upheld by treaties, conventions, customary law and general principles.1 Like many aspects of law, there is legal ambiguity in the interpretation of some elements of IHL. When there is ambiguity, the basic principles of IHL can help. By looking at the core values of IHL, a certain direction is offered, and an interpretation can be made to follow these principles as much as possible. The concept of stigma will also play a role throughout the thesis. Stigma can greatly impact how IHL deals with a munition and it will be shown that there are high levels of stigma related to white phosphorus. Because of this the best time to make an amendment would be now. There will be parallels made to other munitions which have had stigma and have resulted in IHL dealing with the munition.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Law
Depositing User:	Users 4971 not found.
Date Deposited:	16 May 2017 09:11
Last Modified:	16 May 2017 09:11
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/63531
DOI:

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