Denial of human rights in armed conflicts

Fundamental human rights, as accepted in international law and laid down in international instruments, may be wholly or partially ignored in situations of armed conflict. In the conduct of military operations, distinctions may not be made at all times between persons actively taking part in the conflict and civilian populations. Every effort may not be made to spare civilian populations from the ravages of war, and all necessary precautions may not be taken to avoid injury, loss or damage to the civilian populations. Civilian populations may even be made the actual object of military operations such as air bombardments or th use use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases. Dwellings and other installations that are used only by civilian populations may be attacked, as well as places or areas designated for the sole protection of civilians (such as hospitals). Civilian populations may be made the object of reprisals, forcible transfers or other assaults on their integrity. In particular, participants in resistance movements and freedom-fighters in territories under colonial and alien domination and foreign occupation, struggling for their liberation and self-determination, may not be treated, in case of arrest, as prisoners of war in accordance with the principles of the relevant conventions.