Attacks and bombings on the civilian population, inflicting incalculable suffering, especially on women and children, who are the most vulnerable members of the population, shall be prohibited, and such acts shall be condemned.
2
Toe use of chemical and bacteriological weapons in the course of military operations constitutes one of the most flagrant violations of the Geneva Protocol of 1925, 16 the Geneva Conventions of 194917 and the principies of intemational humanitarian law and inflicts heavy losses on civilian populations, including defenceless women and children,
and shall be severely condemned.
3
Ali States shall abide fully by their obligations under the Geneva Protocol of 1925 and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, as well as other instruments of international law relative to respect for human rights in armed conflicts, which offer important guarantees for the protection of women and children.
4
Ali efforts shall be made by States involved in armed conflicts, military operations in foreign territories or military operations in territories still under colonial domination to spare women and children from the ravages of war. Ali the necessary steps shall be taken to ensure the prohibition of measures such as persecution, torture, punitive measures, degrading treatment and violence, particularly against that part of the civilian population that consists of women and children.
5
Ali forms of repression and cruel and inhuman treatment of women and children, including impris· onment, torture, shooting, mass arrests, collective punishment, destruction of dwellings and forcible eviction, committed by belligerents in the course of military operations or in occupied territories shall be considered criminal.
6
Women and children belonging to the civilian population and finding themselves in circumstances of emergency and armed conflict in the struggle for peace, self-determination, national liberation and independence, or who live in occupied territories, shall not be deprived of shelter, food, medica! aid or other inalienable rights, in accordance with the provisions
16 League of Nations, Treaty Series, vol. XCIV, No. 2138,
11 United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, Nos. 970-973.
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 18 the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights, 18 the Declaration of the Rights of the Child19 or other instruments of international law.
iParagraph content is machine-extracted from UN documents. For authoritative content, please refer to the official UN document.
