War.

NUTLEY BOY

In the context of current events in the Ukraine I was wondering if there are any internationally agreed definitions of what actually constitutes war ?

banie01

The 1907 Hague convention and perhaps it's adoption in the Nuremberg principles? The 1949 Geneva Convention and its reliance on jus in bello, seeks to regulate conduct in war. It IMO relies in large part on custom and prior treaties.

It's a meaty question though. Who can wage war? Is it the sole remit of sovereign nations and what constitutes recognition of such a nation and their right to wage war?

When does a seccesionist movement gain sovereignty? Does the premise of might make right allow for such an effort to be retrospective?

There is also the US notion of the Law of War and voluminous treaty and declarations on the matter. The list of declarations on the Wikipedia "Law of War" page gives a good overview.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_war

It is ironically an area of adversarial claim and counter claim that leaves much of the particular application of law as contentious. My own interest in this particular area of the law is borne out of a hobby interest/obsession with Military History and is far from expert 😉

An example that springs to mind right now? Is the effort the US are making to avoid outright requesting Russian War Crimes be prosecuted at The Hague. The US keep coming back to the line that crimes committed in or against Ukraine are for Ukraine to prosecute.

This is because the US refuses to recognise the authority of the ICJ for its own war criminals and can't push it as a remedy for Russian ones.

Grolschevik

There's actually an article related to this in the most recent Law Society Gazette, or the one before, though it's pretty short.