Legitimate Military Objectives under the Current Jus in Bello

Abstract

n its Advisory Opinion of 1996 on Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, the International Court of Justice recognized the “principle of distinction”—between combatants and noncombatants (civilians)—as a fundamental and “intransgressible” principle of customary international law.1 The requirement of distinction between combatants and civilians lies at the root of the jus in bello. It is reflected in Article 48 of Protocol Additional I of 1977 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims, entitled “Basic rule:” “the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives.”2 There is no doubt that, irrespective of objections to sundry other