Crimes of War > The Book

Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know, our flagship book, is an A-Z guide to the laws governing armed conflict and their application in practice. The chapters include discussions of the crimes prohibited by international humanitarian law, key terms relating to modern warfare, analysis of legal categories, and case studies showing the place of war crimes in recent conflicts. A revised and updated edition of the book, Crimes of War 2.0, was published in November 2007.

The full text of all articles from the revised edition is available below, along with chapters from the first edition that were not included for reasons of space in the second edition, and articles specially commissioned for the French edition.

Civilian immunity dates back to the 16th century

Crimes Of War Project > The Book

The concept of immunity, the rule that certain people and places should be "protected and respected" during wartime, can be dated back at least to 1582, when a Spanish judge suggested that "intentional killing of innocent persons, for example, women and children, is not allowable in war." The Geneva Conventions of 1949 confirmed immunity for civilians, hospitals, and medical staff, and the 1977 Additional Protocols to the conventions state: "The civilian population and individual civilians shall enjoy general protection against the dangers arising from military operations."