Napalm and other incendiary weapons

The years 1970-1975 were marked by a growing interest in prohibiting the use in armed conflicts of certain conventional weapons deemed to cause unnecessary suffering or to have indiscriminate effects, most notably napalm and other incendiary weapons. Most of the initiatives in that direction taken by the General Assembly of the United Nations during the period described below were closely related to various activities outside the United Nations framework, including (a) the initiative of the 1968 International Conference on Human Rights, requesting the General Assembly of the United Nations to invite the Secretary-General to make a study of existing humanitarian rules in armed conflicts and the need for additional rules; (b) the Conferences of Government Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, convened in 1971 and 1972 by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC); (c) the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts convened by the Government of Switzerland in early 1974 and continuing in its second session in early 1975; and (d) two studies prepared by groups of government experts under the auspices of ICRC and issued in 1973 and 1975.

Related Subject(s): Disarmament