The Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the use of Incendiary Weapons is a

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

that restricts the use of incendiary weapons. It is Protocol III to the 1980

Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons The United Nations Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW or CCWC), concluded at Geneva on October 10, 1980, and entered into force in December 1983, seeks to prohibit or restrict the use of certain conventional weapons which are cons ...

Which May Be Deemed To Be Excessively Injurious Or To Have Indiscriminate Effects. Concluded in 1981, it entered into force on 2 December 1983.D. Schindler and J. Toman, ''The Laws of Armed Conflicts'', Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1988, pp.190-191. , it had been ratified by 126 state parties. Incendiary weapons as a category does not appear to include thermobaric weapons, and

international law International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...

does not appear to prohibit the use of thermobaric munitions against military targets. Their use against civilian populations or infrastructure may be banned by this Protocol. , all past attempts to regulate or restrict thermobaric weapons have failed.

Content

The protocol prohibits, in all circumstances, making the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian objects, the object of attack by any weapon or munition which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn injury to persons through the action of

flame A flame () is the visible, gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic chemical reaction made in a thin zone. When flames are hot enough to have ionized gaseous components of sufficient density, they are then considered plasm ...

heat In thermodynamics, heat is energy in transfer between a thermodynamic system and its surroundings by such mechanisms as thermal conduction, electromagnetic radiation, and friction, which are microscopic in nature, involving sub-atomic, ato ...

or a combination thereof, produced by a

chemical reaction A chemical reaction is a process that leads to the chemistry, chemical transformation of one set of chemical substances to another. When chemical reactions occur, the atoms are rearranged and the reaction is accompanied by an Gibbs free energy, ...

of a substance delivered on the target. The protocol also prohibits the use of air-delivered

incendiary weapons Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel ...

against military targets within a concentration of civilians, and limits the use of incendiary weapons delivered by other means. Forest and other plants may not be a target unless they are used to conceal combatants or other military objectives. The protocol lists certain munition types like smoke shells which only have a secondary or additional incendiary effect; these munition types are not considered to be incendiary weapons.

Review of doctrine

An investigation into the doctrine taught by various militaries was conducted sometime after 2001 by the

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and ...

as part of its database on

Customary International Humanitarian Law Customary international humanitarian law is a body of unwritten rules of public international law, which govern conduct during armed conflict. Customary international law Customary international law, like international treaty law, is recognized a ...

.ICRC Database, Customary IHL , Practice, https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v2 Rule 84 deals with this Protocol.

External links

Text and signatories of the protocol

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices, Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary weapons International humanitarian law treaties United Nations treaties Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons Treaties concluded in 1981 Treaties entered into force in 1983 Treaties of Albania Treaties of Algeria Treaties of Antigua and Barbuda Treaties of Argentina Treaties of Australia Treaties of Austria Treaties of Bahrain Treaties of Bangladesh Treaties of Belarus Treaties of Benin Treaties of Belgium Treaties of Bolivia Treaties of Bosnia and Herzegovina Treaties of Brazil Treaties of Bulgaria Treaties of Burkina Faso Treaties of Cambodia Treaties of Canada Treaties of Cape Verde Treaties of Chile Treaties of China Treaties of Colombia Treaties of Costa Rica Treaties of Croatia Treaties of Cuba Treaties of Cyprus Treaties of the Czech Republic Treaties of Denmark Treaties of Djibouti Treaties of Ecuador Treaties of El Salvador Treaties of Estonia Treaties of Finland Treaties of France Treaties of Gabon Treaties of Georgia (country) Treaties of Germany Treaties of Greece Treaties of Grenada Treaties of Guatemala Treaties of Guinea-Bissau Treaties of the Holy See Treaties of Honduras Treaties of Hungary Treaties of Iceland Treaties of India Treaties of Ireland Treaties of Italy Treaties of Jamaica Treaties of Japan Treaties of Jordan Treaties of Kazakhstan Treaties of Kuwait Treaties of Laos Treaties of Latvia Treaties of Lesotho Treaties of Liberia Treaties of Liechtenstein Treaties of Lithuania Treaties of Luxembourg Treaties of North Macedonia Treaties of Madagascar Treaties of the Maldives Treaties of Mali Treaties of Malta Treaties of Mauritius Treaties of Mexico Treaties of Moldova Treaties of Mongolia Treaties of Montenegro Treaties of Nauru Treaties of the Netherlands Treaties of New Zealand Treaties of Nicaragua Treaties of Niger Treaties of Norway Treaties of Pakistan Treaties of Palestine Treaties of Panama Treaties of Paraguay Treaties of Peru Treaties of the Philippines Treaties of Poland Treaties of Portugal Treaties of Qatar Treaties of Romania Treaties of Russia Treaties of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Treaties of Saudi Arabia Treaties of Senegal Treaties of Serbia Treaties of Seychelles Treaties of Sierra Leone Treaties of Slovakia Treaties of Slovenia Treaties of South Africa Treaties of Spain Treaties of Sri Lanka Treaties of Sweden Treaties of Switzerland Treaties of Tajikistan Treaties of Togo Treaties of Tunisia Treaties of Uganda Treaties of Ukraine Treaties of the United Kingdom Treaties of the United States Treaties of Uruguay Treaties of Venezuela Treaties of Zambia