Protecting civilians during war and occupation in the context of international legal policy: between the constant and the variable

Abstract

The study aimed to clarify the issue of the legality of war in ancient and modern times in accordance with the provisions of the law, and to demonstrate the importance of the human rights issue in times of armed conflict or occupation, as they are among the most important contemporary issues that preoccupy international public opinion and humanitarian organizations, due to the many attacks, injustice, and wars that humanity suffers from. It furthere aimed to explain the crimes against humanity committed by an individual against others, which affect the interests of the society in which they occur, and affect the interests of humanity as a whole. And also researching and analyzing the nature and characteristics of the legal rules established to protect civilians during the period of armed conflicts or occupation. In terms of the rights and obligations that each legal rule enshrines based on the characteristics that apply to it, the researcher used in his exploration of this nature legal texts and the judicial rulings that emerged from them, as well as the behavior of states towards these rules as they are concerned with implementing them on the ground. The research relied on the deductive and inductive approaches, moving between description and experimentation in a way that served the research and mastered its scientific mechanisms. The study concluded that war in the past was a legitimate means in international law and, consequently, not governed by any legal controls, and that this act has become, under the rules of modern international law, an unacceptable behavior for resolving international disputes, due to its contradiction with the provisions of the United Nations Charter, which is the same rule that applies to military occupation in principle. Onthe other hand, in the event of this occupation, the international community has approved a set of legal rules regulating this behavior through many international instruments that legitimize defensive and offensive actions against military objectives only, while it considered that violations of relevant international laws and legislation require accountability and accountability before the international judiciary that has jurisdiction and competence, away from the policy of double standards or the policy of subjugating international law to the benefit of the great powers. Therefore, investing what international law entails in the interest of truth and justice falls within the purposeful strategyto achieve national liberation in accordance with international instruments