NEW DEVELOPMENT CONCERNING THE LEGAL REGULATIONS OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONS IN INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

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1. International Legal Regulation of LandminesConcerning the legal regulation of landmines, we have three legal documents (1980 Landmine Protocol, 1996 Amended Landmine Protocol and 1997 Total Ban Treaty on Landmines) and one treaty negotiation process (''Conference of Disarmament" Process). The historical development of and interrelationships among these legal documents and process, and their mutual relations are described.2. International Legal Regulation of Laser WeaponsLaser weapons designed as anti-sensor or anti-personnel are in existence or in the process of development. Through the discussion in four meetings of experts on battlefield laser weapons during 1989-91, we were then able to conclude about legal assessment of laser weapons as follows. At first, the use of lasers for range-finding and other ancillary purposes is legal in spite of the incidental blinding. Secondly, use of lasers for anti-sensor is legal because it do not violate the ''unnecessary suffering" principle. T … More hirdly, the use of lasers to disable tanks and aircrafts by blinding crews is legal because the laser offers much more military advantages than other weapons. At the same time, experts differed widely on the legality of the anti-infantry use of laser weapons. In the case that it was not clear whether the suffering caused by laser (blindness) was disproportionate to military advantages, we were forced to conclude that it was not illegal as international humanitarian law was 'prohibitive law'. On 13 October 1995, the First Review Conference of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) adopted a new fourth protocol entitled ''protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons". It prohibits only the use and transfer of 'laser weapons specifically designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat functions, to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision'. Due some shortcomings, I think that the protocol provides a starting point for future international efforts to restrict blinding weapons. Less