Death penalty under international humanitarian law

Abstract

War and the practice of the death penalty are two separate occurrences started and created by humans that make the killing of another human being lawful and justifiable. International humanitarian law is the system of laws that is responsible for governing warfare and protecting the people affected by war. The main legal instruments used in international humanitarian law are the four Geneva Conventions together with their Additional Protocols which also cover situations of the death penalty during war. The main research question of this thesis is to find how different aspects of war influence the practice of the death penalty and how does international humanitarian law protect persons from the death penalty during wartime? It is concluded, that aspects like the geographical location of people impact the use of the death penalty and treaties in place protect people from the death penalty more in theory than in practice.