Protocol on Incendiary Weapons

The Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Incendiary Weapons is a United Nations treaty that restricts the use of incendiary weapons. It is Protocol III to the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed To Be Excessively Injurious Or To Have Indiscriminate Effects. Concluded in 1981, it entered into force on 2 December 1983.[2][3] As of January 2023, it had been ratified by 126 state parties.[1]

Protocol on Incendiary Weapons
Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Incendiary Weapons
ContextConvention on Certain Conventional Weapons
Effective2 December 1983 (1983-12-02)
Condition20
Parties126, As of January 2023[1]
DepositaryUN Secretary-General
LanguagesArabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish

Incendiary weapons as a category does not appear to include thermobaric weapons, and international law does not appear to prohibit the use of thermobaric munitions, fuel-air explosive devices, or vacuum bombs against military targets.[4][5] Their use against civilian populations or infrastructure may be banned by this Protocol.[6] As of November 2022, all past attempts to regulate or restrict thermobaric weapons have failed.[7][5]

Content
Leg burns caused by the use of a phosphorus weapon somewhere in Nagorno-Karabakh on 10 May 2021

The protocol prohibits, in all circumstances, making the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects, the object of attack by any weapon or munition which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons through the action of flame, heat or a combination thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on the target. The protocol also prohibits the use of air-delivered incendiary weapons against military targets within a concentration of civilians, and limits the use of incendiary weapons delivered by other means. Forest and other plants may not be a target unless they are used to conceal combatants or other military objectives.[8][9]

The protocol lists certain munition types like smoke shells which only have a secondary or additional incendiary effect; these munition types are not considered to be incendiary weapons.[10]

Review of doctrine

An investigation into the doctrine taught by various militaries was conducted sometime after 2001 by the International Committee of the Red Cross as part of its database on Customary International Humanitarian Law.[11] Rule 84 deals with this Protocol.[12]

History

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation used incendiary weapons in the Battle of Grozny (1999–2000). Pavel Felgenhauer, at the time a journalist of the Moscow Times, reported that:[12][13]

Incendiary bombs, incendiary cluster bombs and containers were extensively used to torch enemy-occupied objects and to destroy enemy manpower concentrations. At the time of these air raids there were several thousand Chechen fighters in Grozny and up to 100,000 civilians … Concrete evidence has been gathered by journalists and human rights groups on the use of different air-delivered incendiary weapons, including “vacuum” or “fuel” bombs against Grozny and other Chechen towns and villages. There is also concrete evidence that hundreds of civilians, including women and children, have been killed by such weapons.
The use of prohibited incendiary weapons in violation of international agreements is a much more serious war crime than the abuse of civilians by troops and bombardments by “ordinary” bombs or shells. The Russian military knows that the use of incendiary weapons is severely limited by international agreements. Such weapons are not part of the normal inventory of Russian units. Military sources say the orders to forgo internationally outlawed air-delivered incendiary weapons and attack towns and villages “came from the highest authorities”.

References
  1. "Convention On Prohibitions Or Restrictions On The Use Of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed To Be Excessively Injurious Or To Have Indiscriminate Effects (With Protocols I, II And III)" (PDF). United Nations, Treaty Series , vol. 1342. p. 137. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  2. "Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III). Geneva, 10 October 1980". International Committee of the Red Cross. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  3. D. Schindler and J. Toman, The Laws of Armed Conflicts, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1988, pp.190-191.
  4. "Ukraine's ambassador to US says Russia used a vacuum bomb, international groups say banned cluster munitions used to strike shelter". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 1 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  5. Hanson, Marianne (2 March 2022). "What are thermobaric weapons? And why should they be banned?". The Conversation. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  6. Dunlap, Charlie (27 February 2022). "The Ukraine crisis and the international law of armed conflict (LOAC): some Q & A". Lawfire. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  7. Seidel, Jamie (27 February 2022). "Father of all bombs': Russia's brutal weapon". news.com.au. Retrieved 11 March 2022.
  8. "1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons – Factsheet". International Committee of the Red Cross. March 2014. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  9. "Rule 84. The Protection of Civilians and Civilian Objects from the Effects of Incendiary Weapons". International Committee of the Red Cross. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  10. "Protocol III to the Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which may be deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effects: Text of the Protocol". UNODA. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
  11. ICRC Database, Customary IHL , Practice, https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2
  12. "Practice relating to Rule 84. The Protection of Civilians and Civilian Objects from the Effects of Incendiary Weapons". International Committee of the Red Cross. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
  13. Pavel Felgenhauer, “Endorsing War Crimes”, Moscow Times, 12 July 2001, p. 6
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