ABSTRACT
International humanitarian law is increasingly perceived as part of human rights law applicable in armed conflict. The first factor of importance is that humanitarian law was developed at a time when recourse to force was not illegal as an instrument of national policy. The major characteristic of humanitarian law which first tends to strike a human rights lawyer is the fact that the law makes allowance in its provisions for actions necessary for military purposes. The most important change as far as humanitarian law is concerned is the fact that recourse to war is no longer a legal means of regulating conflict. In general, humanitarian law is now less perceived as a code of honour for combatants than as a means of sparing non-combatants as much as possible from the horrors of war. Human rights texts are increasingly expressing ideas and concepts typical of humanitarian law.
