ABSTRACT
The rationale for an examination of weaponry law in the context of this study is that growing urbanisation, combined with the increasing severity, magnitude and reach, of weaponry capabilities since the Second World War have increasingly exposed civilians to the destructive capacity of armed conflict.1 General treatybased IHL, namely the Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions, do not in themselves prohibit specific weapons per se but rather set out general principles that are to be applied on a case-by-case basis, including the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks such as those which employ a means of combat that cannot be directed at a specific military objective or that employ a means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited. The branch of IHL that provides weaponsspecific prohibitions or regulation is referred to here as arms control law, and it will be suggested that the concepts and rules developed in this field may have import when it comes to interpreting progressively the general principles of precaution, proportionality and distinction.
