Blinding Laser Weapons and International Humanitarian Law

Multilateral arms regulations may restrict or prohibit the production and possession of specific weapons (the disarmament approach) or the use of specific weapons considered excessively inhumane or indiscriminate in their effects (the humanitarian law approach). This article focuses on the second approach, seen against the background of the St Petersburg Declaration of 1868, which states that whenever scientific developments lead towards improvement in armaments, the Contracting Parties will `come to an understanding' in order to `conciliate the necessities of war with the laws of humanity'. The article discusses the prospects for and the legal arguments against battlefield laser weapons which can cause permanent blindness on human beings. Since aggressive use of force is forbidden under the UN Charter, it follows that any use of any weapon is prohibited within the context of aggression. But where international law does not prohibit the use of armed force — as in the case of self-defence or Security Council mandated actions — the right of parties to the conflict to choose methods and means of warfare is not unlimited. The argument is made that systematic use of laser-beams against the eyesight of individuals is prohibited under the existing law of warfare. It is also argued that the use of anti-eye laser weapons is prohibited under existing law, although this conclusion will need to be confirmed in a multilateral document.