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Chapter 39 - Other Persons Afforded Specific Protection (Rules 134–138)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Jean-Marie Henckaerts
Affiliation:
International Committee of the Red Cross
Louise Doswald-Beck
Affiliation:
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva and University Centre for International Humanitarian Law
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Summary

Rule 134. The specific protection, health and assistance needs of women affected by armed conflict must be respected.

Note: International humanitarian law affords women the same protection as men – be they combatants, civilians or persons hors de combat. All the rules set out in the present study therefore apply equally to men and women without discrimination. However, recognising their specific needs and vulnerabilities, international humanitarian law grants women a number of further specific protections and rights. The present rule identifies certain of these additional protections and rights.

Practice

Volume II, Chapter 39, Section A.

Summary

State practice establishes this rule as a norm of customary international law applicable in both international and non-international armed conflicts. The practice collected with regard to the specific needs of women is reinforced by and should be viewed in the light of the specific practice relating to the prohibition of sexual violence (see Rule 93) and the obligation to separate women deprived of their liberty from men (see Rule 119), as well as the prominent place of women's rights in human rights law.

International armed conflicts

The rule that the specific needs of women affected by armed conflict must be respected flows from provisions found in each of the four Geneva Conventions. The First Geneva Convention, for example, requires that “women shall be treated with all consideration due to their sex”. Additional Protocol I provides that “women shall be the object of special respect”.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2005

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