The Review Of New Weapons Under International Humanitarian Law

The review of new weapons is not a new concept in the law of war. In1868,when people aware of the development of weapons may lead to more serious wardisaster，new weapons should be reviewed has been prescribed in the St PetersburgDeclaration. The St Petersburg Declaration is the first international instrument whichrefers to the importance of reviewing the legality of new weapons. But it is not themost comprehensive one. In Article36of Additional Protocol I of1977, review thelegality of new weapons has been identified as a national obligation. This articlepresent a brief overview of the principal elements of this provision, including the rulesand factors that States should take into account to ensure that means and methods ofwarfare comply with the relevant rules of international law. The article build arudiment for the review of new weapons.The review of new weapons is seek to avoid the disaster caused by illegalweapons. But in the past30years, unfortunately, the review of new weapons has notbeen given the required attention or importance by most States. Only a few Stateshave adopted measures to undertake legal reviews of weapons. By analyzing thesecountries practice, it is not difficult to find that this situation is mainly caused by theloophole of the legal review. Lack of interoperability makes the mechanism difficultto implement. And Countries were reluctant to fulfill their obligations. How tocomplete the review of new weapons becomes a urgent problem.In view of the rapid technological developments in the field of weaponry,implementation of Article36of Additional Protocol I remains of particularimportance today. We must encourage States which have not yet done so to adoptreview mechanisms at the national level. We can also reach a new international treatyor make up an international new weapon review organizations to make sure allweapons are legal to use. What’s more, we can build a stage for communication toexchange the national experiences. This will be a powerful impetus to theimplementation of review mechanism.