1899 ir 1907 m. Hagos konferencijos ir jų įtaka tarptautinei humanitarinei teisei

Abstract

SUMMARY International Peace Conference of 1899 (First Hague Conference) and International Peace Conference of 1907 (Second Hague Conference) were called by Russia Czar Nicholas II and at the invitation of the Queen Vilhelmina of the Netherlands. The first conference was convened from May 18 to July 22, 1899 at the Hague and 26 States participated. The Second Conference also took plane at The Hague on June 14 to October 18, 1907 and 44 States participated. The Hague Conferences failed chiefly in the field of the restriction of armaments. Neither succeeded in the main announced purpose of effecting a reduction in armaments, but a number of declarations and conventions respecting the laws of war were adopted and were later ratified by many states. The most important success was the codification of the law of war on land by Hague Regulations, which by general acceptance of the international comunity became universal customary international law. The Regulations provide rules concerning all aspects of land warfare on which the contracting states had been able to agree, such as: the categories of persons that were to be regarded as combatants; the treatment of prisoners of war; restrictions on the adoption of means and methods of waging war, including some basic rules on the protection of civilian population and cultural objects; restrictions on the behaviour of an Occupying Power, etc. Other conventions relaiting to the law of war are also to be counted as achievements, but conventions on the law of neutrality did not have the same impact in practice. A substantial achievement was the founding by the First Hague Conference of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. However, at the second conference the United States failed in its effort to secure the establishment of a world court. The activities of the Second Conference with respect to the law of land warfare were confined to a minor revision of the Convention and Declarations of 1899. The Conference also actively occupied itself with various questions of navals warfare. A third conference, scheduled for 1916, was canceled because of World War I. Apart from specialized aspects, the conferences contributed to the general development of international humanitarian law by promoting its codification. In the attempt to formulate certain rules of international law, the Hague Conferences furnished an example for both the League of Nations and the United Nations.