Air Warfare and International Humanitarian Law

Introduction    15
Selection of the main subject of the monograph     17
Structure of the study    20
Objectives and main theses of the study    22
Research methodology    23

Chapter I. The phenomenon of air warfare from the beginnings of military aviation to the present day     25
1.    Definition of air warfare    25
2.    Air warfare from a historical perspective    29
3.    The doctrine of air warfare in the inter-war period    38
4.    Aviation in the interwar period    52
5.    An overview of the operations of air forces during World War    53
6.    Post-war use of air force    68
7.    Armed conflict in Vietnam – a new perspective on the use of air force    73
8.    Contemporary Air Warfare    85
9.    Aviation in the War on Terror    100
10.    Conclusions    112

Chapter II. The laws of air warfare and their sources    117
1.    Preliminary remarks    117
2.    Definition of the law of air warfare    117
3.    Definition of a military aircraft    118
4.    Generations of the law of air warfare    119
5.    Sources of the law of air warfare    121
6.    International standards for the protection of human rights as a source of the rules of air warfare     155

Chapter III. Material scope of the law of air warfare    167
1.    Preliminary remarks    167
2.    War as an institution of international law    167
3.    A historical look at the definition of war    168
4.    From “war” to “armed conflict”    171
5.    Air raid and its role in defining the boundaries of the temporal applicability of international humanitarian law    175
6.    Examples of unilateral armed incidents involving aviation    176
7.    Subjective theory of armed conflict    181
8.    Objective theory of armed conflict Controversies related to the moment of its establishment and the criterion of intensity    184
9.    Subjective and objective elements of an armed conflict    189
10.    Conclusions    198
11.    Temporal scope of international humanitarian law    199
12.    Non-International Air Warfare    209
13.    Non-international armed conflict    210
14.    The status of the crew of a military aircraft in a non-international armed conflict    214
15.    Geographical scope of application of the law of air warfare    217

Chapter IV. Development of the law of air warfare    223
1.    The law of air warfare as part of the so-called Hague law. Preliminary remarks    223
2.    Otto von Bismarck’s dispatch of November 18, 1870    227
3.    The law of artillery bombardment    229
4.    The Brussels Conference of 1874    233
5.    The Laws of War on Land drafted by the Institute of International Law    236
6.    An attempt to delegalize air warfare – The Hague 1899    237
7.    The Draft of the Institute of International Law on Bombardment of Open Towns by Naval Forces 1896    240
8.    Land-based and naval bombardment – The Hague 1899    241
9.    Legal status of airspace at the beginning of the 20th century    244
10.    The first draft by Paul Fauchille from 1902    245
11.    The International Law of Air Warfare drafted by Paul Fauchille in 1902    249
12.    The Session of the Institute of International Law in Ghent in 1906    252
13.    The development of aviation law before World War I    254
14.    Development of the principle of exclusive state sovereignty in airspace    257
15.    The Second Hague Peace Conference of 1907    258
16.    Session of the Institute of International Law in 1910    270
17.    Session of the Institute of International Law in 1911    272
18.    Paul Fauchille’s draft law of air warfare    273
19.    Commentary to the draft of air warfare code of 1911    277
20.    Le Moyne’s draft law of air warfare    278
21.    A draft law of air warfare by James M. Spaight    280
22.    Regulation of the legal status of airspace in the years 1911–1918    284
23.    Erosion of the immunity of undefended cities    288
24.    Criticism of Article 25 of the Hague Regulations of 1907. Discussion of the legal status of London as a defended city    288
25.    World War I – French doctrine and air bombing    291
26.    Article 25 of the Hague Regulations of 1907 and its significance in air warfare    294
27.    Paul Fauchille’s Air Bombing initiative    295
28.    Attack on Liepāja, January 29, 1915    298
29.    A casuist approach to the theory of military objective    298

Chapter V. The Hague Rules of Air Warfare and their impact on the law of air warfare during World War II  – the state of the law of air warfare in the years 1945–1972    301
1.    Experiences of World War I – air warfare from a legal perspective. Status of the Fourteenth Hague Declaration of 1907    301
2.    The Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armaments 1921–1922    303
3.    Air warfare at the Washington Conference on the Limitation of Armaments    305
4.    1923 Hague Rules of Air Warfare    306
5.    The law of air bombing in the 1923 regulation    320
6.    Flaws of the 1923 Hague Rules of Air Warfare    330
7.    Reception of the 1923 Hague Rules of Air Warfare in the International Law Doctrine    334
8.    The Doctrine of International Law and the Theory of Military Objective    341
9.    Other issues addressed under the 1923 Hague Rules of Air Warfare    344
10.    Report of ICRC experts from 1930    350
11.    Prague Congress of 1922. Air warfare and international aviation law    353
12.    World Disarmament Conference of 1932–1934 in Geneva    354
13.    International Law Association (ILA)    362
14.    ICRC Draft Convention of 1934     368
15.    The League of Nations and the issue of air warfare    370
16.    Resolution of the League of Nations of 1938 on aerial bombardment (Protection of Civilian Populations against Bombing from the Air in Case of War)    373
17.    Study by A. Henry-Coüannier    382
18.    Attempts to ratify the 1923 Document    384
19.    Examples of the implementation of the 1923 Hague Rules of Air Warfare into military regulations    389
20.    Did the 1923 Hague Rules of Air Warfare obtain customary status before September 1, 1939?    397
21.    World War II and the state of compliance with the norms of the law of air war    401
22.    Reprisals in air warfare as a justification for total air war    410
23.    Status of the Law of Air Warfare in the Initial Period of World War II    415
24.    The collapse of the norms governing air warfare during World War II    418
25.    ICRC during World War II    424
26.    ICRC New Delhi Draft of 1956    425
27.    The Doctrine of International Law in Relation to the Phenomenon of Unlimited Air War     431

Chapter VI. Air warfare law in light of AP I    437
1.    General Remarks    437
2.    Definition of the concept of civilian population. The issue of quasi-combatants    439
3.    Area bombing in AP I    445
4.    Prohibition of indiscriminate attacks in AP I    450
5.    Rule of proportionality in AP I    459
6.    Definition of attack    474
7.    Interpretative declarations to the content of AP I    477
8.    Definition of military objectives in AP I    478
9.    Protection of cultural assets    504
10.    Environmental protection and the law of air warfare    508
11.    Protection of special type infrastructure    511
12.    Precautions    516
13.    The status of non-defended areas    528
14.    The Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Law of Air War    536
15.    The Third Geneva Convention of 1949 and the Law of Air War    538
16.    The Second Geneva Convention of 1949    542
17.    Relation of AP I to earlier norms of air bombardment law    542
18.    Limits of codification of the law of air warfare by AP I    546

Chapter VII. Selected detailed aspects of the law of air warfare    551
1.    Preliminary comments    551
2.    Status of persons evacuating from a damaged aircraft in an emergency    551
3.    Perfidy, use of false markings    558
4.    Perfidy vs. ruses    564
5.    Camouflage in air warfare    568
6.    Markings of military aircraft    574
7.    Markings with reduced visibility. Markings of unmanned aerial vehicles    581
8.    The obligation of wearing military uniforms by the crew of a military aircraft    585
9.    Rules governing the legality of military aircraft armament    588
10.    Selected issues related to the use of aircraft armament    599
11.    Air warfare under international aviation law    617

Chapter VIII. Neutrality in air warfare    623
1.    Neutrality in air warfare    623
2.    Neutrality in the context of air operations during World War II: the internment of flight crews and equipment    625
3.    Deliveries of aviation equipment and practice of neutral/non-participating states    629
4.    Neutrality after the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations    630
5.    Neutrality and being a party to an armed conflict    636

Chapter IX. Air warfare and international jurisprudence    639
1.    Preliminary comments    639
2.    The case of Lieutenants Walker and Smith – the use of incendiary ammunition in air warfare    639
3.    Judgement of the Greco-German Mixed Arbitral Tribunal in the Coenca Brothers v. Germany case and the judgement of the Romanian-German Mixed Arbitral Tribunal in Kiriadolou v. Germany    640
4.    The Lotus case and its impact on international humanitarian law    643
5.    Aerial bombardment during the Spanish Civil War    645
6.    Kommandobefehl    645
7.    The Essen Lynching case    646
8.    Enemy Airmen’s Act    647
9.    The sinking of the ship “Laconia”    649
10.    The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg    652
11.    The International Military Tribunal for the Far East    660
12.    Rendulic rule    664
13.    Ryuichi Shimoda et al. v. The State    667
14.    Advisory opinion of the ICJ of 1996    671
15.    International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia    677
16.    Report of the Committee to the ICTY Prosecutor on the NATO Bombing Campaign in Serbia in 1999    695
17.    The Goldstone Report    705
18. Libya 2011    708
19.    Operation “Protective Edge”    709
20.    Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission    713
21.    The case of Col. Georg Klein    714
22.    Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic    716
23.    Report to the United States Congress on the course of action during the First Gulf War    717
24.    The OSCE expert report under the so-called Moscow Mechanism concerning the course of military operations in Ukraine    719
25. Gaza 2023–2024    721

Chapter X. Unmanned operations and autonomy in air warfare    723
1.    Unmanned operations in air warfare    723
2.    Autonomy and future aerial warfare    731

Conclusion    759
References    765
Abbreviations    847