Various Mechanisms for Implementing International Humanitarian Law

Abstract

Although international humanitarian law has been constantly developed in the direction of strengthening the protection of victims of armed conflict after the two World Wars, one of the most important and difficult issues facing the international community to this day is to effectively secure the implementation of such developed international humanitarian law. To this end, the International Committee of the Red Cross has tried to enhance the effectiveness of the mechanism for securing the implementation of international humanitarian law until recently. Nevertheless, it remains one of the key challenges facing the international community. At the time of the outbreak of the Korean War, the four Geneva Conventions in 1949 had yet to take effect, so the major international humanitarian norms that South Korea and other belligerent parties had to comply with were only the Hague Regulation of 1907. In particular, the 3rd Geneva Convention of 1949, i.e. the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners, was applied as a de facto guideline to the extent that the UN commander ordered to comply scrupulously , and later Korea ratified the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 as well as two additional protocols. In South Korea s security situation, which is still in a armistice and has to prepare for armed conflict, “the importance of exploring ways of enhancing and ensuring the effectiveness of mechanisms of compliance with international humanitarian law, with a view to strengthening legal protection for all victims of armed conflict” needs to be further emphasized. In order to secure the effectiveness of the mechanism for implementing international humanitarian law, multilateral efforts by a number of actors are required. However, for this, above all, the will of individual States, which are the original subjects of international law, is important. Until recently, discussions on how to improve the implementation of international humanitarian law have continued through intergovernmental procedures, but revising existing international humanitarian law more thoroughly or introducing a new implementation mechanism does not ensure its effectiveness. Rather, efforts by States to thoroughly comply with the existing mechanism of implementation of international humanitarian law, whether individually or collectively, should be preceded through more organized and diverse cooperation. This paper comprehensively summarizes the mechanisms for securing the implementation of the current international humanitarian law and examines the implementation of Korea in each mechanism. Such discussions will provide the theoretical basis necessary to make the most of and develop the existing international humanitarian law compliance mechanism.