A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

willfully, causes death or serious injury to body or health. 182 Liberia ratified the four Geneva
Conventions on March 29, 1954.
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Appendix B
Additional Protocol I (1977). A large portion of the Additional Protocol I (a Protocol that applies
only in cases of international armed conflict) is the codification of pre-existing rules of customary
international law. 183 Major provisions of this protocol discuss combatant and POW status, methods
and means of warfare, protection of and humanitarian assistance to civilian populations, treatment
of the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked, and treatment of those persons “in the power of a party to
the conflict.” 184 Liberia ratified Additional Protocol I on June 30, 1988.
Additional Protocol II* (1977). This protocol supplements Common Article 3. 185 As compared
to the extensive Additional Protocol I, this protocol establishes a limited set of rules that apply to
internal armed conflicts. As defined in Article 1, internal armed conflict does not include “situations
of internal disturbances and tensions, such as riots, isolated and sporadic acts of violence and other
acts of a similar nature.” 186 This vague definition means that characterization of a given conflict “has
largely been left to the discretion and the good faith of the state concerned . . . [m]uch will therefore
depend on the good will of the authorities in the state concerned and, as the case may be, on such
pressure as the outside world may be able to exert.” 187 In answer to state sovereignty fears inherent
in recognizing an opposition group, this protocol makes no mention of “parties to a conflict,” and
instead speaks in terms of “military operations” and situations involving “hostilities.” 188
This protocol applies to “all persons affected by an armed conflict” and it must be applied without
any discrimination based upon race, color, sex, language, religion, ethnicity, wealth, or other similar
criteria. 189 Any person who is not taking part in or who is no longer taking part in hostilities
must be treated humanely. 190 Article 4 repeats the prohibition of acts forbidden by the Common
Article 3, and forbids the following acts: corporal punishment, acts of terrorism, outrages upon
personal dignity (including rape, forced prostitution, and any form of indecent assault), slavery
and the slave trade, pillaging, and threats to commit any of these forbidden acts. 191 Specifically
dealing with the problem of child soldiers, this protocol provides that no one under the age of
15 may be recruited or allowed to take part in the armed conflict. 192 Article 6 places due process
requirements on the punishment of criminal offenses. Echoing Common Article 3, all wounded,
sick, and shipwrecked must be protected and cared for, and special protections are added for medical
and religious personnel. 193 Any attack that would directly target civilians or certain key pieces of
social infrastructure is prohibited, and starvation or forced displacement of civilians (except for
displacements due to security or “imperative military reasons”) is also prohibited. 194 Liberia ratified
Additional Protocol II on June 30, 1988.
iii. The Post-Geneva Conventions and Protocols
Post-Geneva law includes conventions on the prohibition against or use of certain weapons. Such