PROTECTION OF THE RIGHTS OF INDIVIDUALS IN ARMED CONFLICT SITUATION

ABSTRACT

The fundamental target of both Islamic law of war  and international Humanitarian law is to protect the Rights and Persons of both combatants and non-combatants during and after the hostilities thus, the amount and extent of violence applied in war must be limited to achieving military objective, that is to subdue the enemy, such an action/violence should be proportionate, in other words, there should be a clear distinction between combatants and non-combatants, meaning, the law restricts both the means and method of waging war and object against which such means may be employed. Thus, civilians and civilian objectives must not be made the object of direct attack, they should be accorded necessary protection against the dangerts arising from military operation, such as indiscriminate attack that is expected to cause incidental less of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects or a combination thereof which would  be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.

In the same vein, a combatant who can no longer take part in hostility due to sickness or surrender should not be attacked or

killed, but should be accorded all necessary protection as provided under protocol, and by extension all other prisoners of war, as contain under the third Geneva convention of 1949 as well articles

14 and 75 (2) of protocol 1 of 1977 additional to Geneva convention.

So in essence, both Islamic law of war and International Humanitarian law granted protection to all civilian population, i.e. women, children, religious personnel aged persons and all other categories of persons who did not take  part in hostility  through any other means as well as their objects. They also extended such protection to combatants who are incapable to continue with hostility as a result of injury or surrender.

Violation of any forbidden act or non-performance of any required act under both Islamic law of war and International Humanitarian law is considered as war crime.

The main objective of this research work is therefore to provide:

A comparison of Islamic law and International Humanitarian Laws by examining the rights of individuals both combatants and non- combatants, during and after armed conflict situations.

To examine the sources of the said two legal systems.

To examine the purpose of war under the said two legal systems.

To determine war crimes under the two legal systems as well as their punishment.

To examine the differences between the two legal systems.

To fill in the vacuum left by learned jurists in the two legal  systems, and to offer some suggestions on how to fill the said vacuum as well as to further develop same.

Chapter 1, contains, General introduction to Islamic law of war and international Humanitarian law, statement of the problem,  objective of study, scope and limitation of research, justification and literature review.

Chapter 2, traces the origin and development of Islamic law of war as well as examining the rights of both combatants and non- combatants under this legal system

Chapter 3, is exclusively dedicated to deal with international Humanitarian law, wherein, origin and development of the said legal system is examine, as well as the rights of both combatants and non-combatants.

Chapter 4, is on the analysis of the rights of individuals both combatants and non-combatants, under both Islamic law of war and International Humanitarian laws, as well as areas of disagreement between them.

Chapter 5, Summaryized the entire research work and  makes some concluding remarks which include conclusion and recommendation.