National Implementation Measures of International Humanitarian Law: Some Practical Aspects

From one perspective, the modern development of international humanitarian law has been a remarkable success. Its rules are among the most detailed and extensive of international law. Its principal treaties enjoy almost universal acceptance. For the other side of the picture, one has only to look at what is happening in most recent armed conflicts to realize that serious violations of humanitarian law are rife all over the world. This leads to the conclusion that it is compliance — respect for the rules — which is the major challenge facing humanitarian law today rather than its very existence or the adequacy of its provisions.