6. What  is  humanitarian law?
International humanitarian law (sometimes referred to as “the law of armed conflict” and “the law of war”) is a body of principles and norms intended to limit human suffering in times of armed conflict and to prevent atrocities. It can be defined as that part of international law – comprising international treaty and customary law – which seeks to protect persons who are not, or are no longer, taking part in the hostilities (i.e. sick, wounded or shipwrecked combatants, prisoners of war and civilians), and to restrict the method and means of  warfare between parties to a conflict.
The 1864 Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field laid the foundations for contemporary humanitarian law. The 1874 Diplomatic Conference and the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 constitute important milestones. Modern international humanitarian law is mainly embodied in the four Geneva Con- ventions of 1949 (188 States Parties) and the two 1977 Protocols Additional to those Conventions (152 and 144 States Parties respectively), namely:
• Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in the Armed Forces in the Field;
• Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked members of  the Armed Forces at Sea;
• Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of  Prisoners of War;
• Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War;