• This prong of the LOAC/IHL focuses

on regulating the means and methods

of warfare (e.g., tactics, weapons, and
targeting decisions).

• any of a series of international treaties

that issued from international
conferences held at The Hague in the
Netherlands in 1899 and 1907.

• The Hague Conventions of 1899 and

1907 limited the means by which
belligerent states could conduct
warfare.
• The first conference was convened at the
invitation of Count Mikhail Nikolayevich
Muravyov, the minister of foreign affairs of Tsar
Nicholas II of Russia.

• In this convention, three declarations were

accepted—one prohibiting the use of
asphyxiating gases, another prohibiting the use
of expanding bullets (dumdums), and another
prohibiting the discharges of projectiles or
explosives from balloons. Last, and most
important, was the adoption of the Convention
for the Pacific Settlement of International
Disputes, creating the Permanent Court of
Arbitration.
 Hague Convention of 1899
• (I): Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International
Disputes
• (II): Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War
on Land
• (III): Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the
Principles of the Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864
• (IV,1): Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Discharge
of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons or by Other New
Analogous Methods
• (IV,2): Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of
Projectiles with the Sole Object to Spread Asphyxiating
Poisonous Gases
• (IV,3): Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of
Bullets which can Easily Expand or Change their Form inside
the Human Body such as Bullets with a Hard Covering which
does not Completely Cover the Core, or containing
indentations.
Though first proposed by U.S. President Theodore
Roosevelt, was officially convened by Nicholas II.
This conference sat from June 15 to Oct. 18, 1907,
and was attended by the representatives of 44 states.

The conference of 1907 renewed the declaration

prohibiting the discharge of projectiles from
balloons. The final acts of the conference were the
unanimous acceptance by the delegates of the
principle of compulsory arbitration and the stating of
a number of voeux (resolutions), the first of which
was the recommendation that another conference be
summoned in eight years, thus establishing the
concept that the best way to handle international
problems was through a series of successive
conferences.
1907
 (I): Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes
This convention confirms and expands on Convention (I) of 1899. As of
2013, this convention is in force for 105 states,[1] and 115 states have ratified
one or both of the 1907 Convention (I) and the 1899 Convention (I), which
together are the founding documents of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
(II): Convention respecting the Limitation of the Employment of Force for
Recovery of Contract Debts.
(III): Convention relative to the Opening of Hostilities
This convention sets out the accepted procedure for a state making a
declaration of war.
(IV): Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land
This convention confirms, with minor modifications, the provisions of
Convention (II) of 1899. All major powers ratified it.
(V): Convention relative to the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and
Persons in case of War on Land
(VI): Convention relative to the Legal Position of Enemy Merchant Ships at
the Start of Hostilities

Hague Convention of 1907

• (VII): Convention relative to the Conversion of Merchant Ships into War-ships
• (VIII): Convention relative to the Laying of Automatic Submarine Contact Mines.
• (IX): Convention concerning Bombardment by Naval Forces in Time of War.
• (X): Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the
Geneva Convention (of 6 July 1906)
• This convention updated Convention (III) of 1899 to reflect the amendments that
had been made to the 1864 Geneva Convention. Convention (X) was ratified
by all major states except the United Kingdom.
• (XI): Convention relative to Certain Restrictions with regard to the Exercise of the
Right of Capture in Naval War
• (XII): Convention relative to the Establishment of an International Prize Court
• This convention would have established the International Prize Court for the
resolution of conflicting claims relating to captured ships during wartime. It is
the one convention that never came into force. It was ratified only by
Nicaragua.
• (XIII): Convention concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval
War
• (XIV): Declaration Prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from
Balloons
• This declaration extended the provisions of Declaration (IV,1) of 1899 to the
close of the planned Third Peace Conference (which never took place). Among
the major powers, this was ratified only by China, United Kingdom, and the
United States.
• International arbitration agreements were
major achievements of the Hague
conferences. The 1899 conference framed a
convention setting forth principles and
procedures. British and American proposals
resulted in the Permanent Court of
Arbitration—a list of judges named by
signatory powers from which parties to an
arbitration could select a panel of judges.
U.S. delegates at the 1907 conference
called for a worldwide agreement to make
arbitration obligatory in a very limited
sense and a Court of Arbitral Justice that
would have had a few judges sitting
continuously.
• This method is exemplified by the
Hague law, consisting of the various
Hague Conventions of 1899, as revised
in 1907 , plus the 1954 Hague Cultural
Property Convention and the 1980
Certain Conventional Weapons
Convention.
• The rules relating to the means and
methods of warfare are primarily
derived from Articles 22 through 41 of
the Regulations Respecting the Laws
and Customs of War on Land annexed to
Hague Convention IV. Article 22 states
that the means of injuring the enemy
are not unlimited.
• The Hague conventions played a
significant role in the cause to regulate
the rules of warfare in international law.
Although the Hague conventions
reflected the level of military techniques
of that period (late 19th and early 20th
centuries), their meaning has been
preserved and defined because they are
based on the progressive principle of the
humanization of warfare.
• The following treaties, limiting specific aspects of warfare, are
also sources of targeting guidance. These treaties are discussed
more fully in the means and methods of warfare section on
weapons.
• Gas - The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits use in war of
asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases.
• Cultural Property - The 1954 Hague Cultural Property
Convention seeks to protect cultural property.
• Biological Weapons - The 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibits
biological weapons. The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention
prohibits their use in retaliation, as well as production,
manufacture, and stockpiling.
• Conventional Weapons - The 1980 Certain Conventional
Weapons Convention restricts or prohibits the use of certain
weapons deemed to cause unnecessary suffering or to be
indiscriminate:
• Protocol I - non-detectable fragments;
• Protocol II - mines, booby traps, and other devices;
• Protocol III -incendiaries;
• Protocol IV- laser weapons; and
• Protocol V -explosive remnants of war, the 1993 Chemical
Weapons Convention; the 1997 Ottawa Convention on anti-
personnel mines; the 2000 Optional Protocol to the Convention
on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in
armed conflict.