Factoring gendered risks of military operations into revisions of the AP Commentary

Abstract

The International Committee of the Red Cross’s upcoming revisions to its 1987 Commentary on the Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions provide an opportunity to reconsider the scope, meaning and application of Article 76 of Additional Protocol I (AP I), on “Protection of Women”, in military operations. Article 76 could provide a sound basis for factoring the gendered risks of international armed conflicts into differentiated protections for women consistent with the formal equality with men that is secured for them in international humanitarian law. This would include the obligations to undertake specific protective measures during military activities, to take specific precautions in attack and to ensure that attacks are proportional as set out in Articles 51 and 57 of AP I.