Selected aspects of the protection of civilian population during armed conflicts in the light of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols

Abstract

International humanitarian law of armed conflicts is nowadays a well-established legal structure prepared to protect civilian population and civilians during armed conflicts. Protection of civilian population is currently one of the most important and, at the same time, most difficult purposes of humanitarian law. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the Additional Protocols of 1977 are the core of this protection and they are particularly significant instruments among other regulations. These instruments clearly describe the rules of the behaviour of armed forces of the sides of the conflict during armed operations and belligerent occupation towards local civilian population, foreigners and persons under special protection. Ultimately these laws also show alternative methods of protection which are helpful for saving civilians and civilian structures, for instance, the establishment of demilitarized zones, or rules of peaceful evacuation of high risk zones.