Practice Relating to Rule 86. Blinding Laser Weapons

In the employment of laser systems, the High Contracting Parties shall take all feasible precautions to avoid the incidence of permanent blindness to unenhanced vision. Such precautions shall include training of their armed forces and other practical measures.

Blinding as an incidental or collateral effect of the legitimate military employment of laser systems, including laser systems used against optical equipment, is not covered by the prohibition of this Protocol. 

Under the 1995 Protocol IV of the CCW [1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons] (CCW P. IV), laser weapons are prohibited from use where they are specifically designed to cause permanent blindness. While CCW P. IV does not prohibit use of lasers for other purposes, precautions must be taken when using laser systems for other purposes in order to avoid causing permanent blindness. 

Blinding as an incidental or collateral effect of the legitimate military employment of laser systems is not covered by the prohibition [on blinding laser weapons]. For example, the legitimate use of a laser targeting system in a tank is lawful even if one of its collateral effects may be to cause blindness. However, such a laser targeting system could not be deliberately used to blind enemy combatants. 

Blinding as an incidental or collateral effect of the legitimate military employment of laser systems is not covered by the prohibition [on blinding laser weapons]. For example, the legitimate use of a laser targeting system in a tank is lawful even if one of its collateral effects may be to cause blindness. However, such a laser targeting system could not be deliberately used to blind enemy combatants. 

II.1.10. Laser weapons

Laser weapons which are designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat functions, to cause permanent blindness or to diminish vision (i.e. to the naked eye or to the eye with corrective eyesight devices) are prohibited.

…

Blinding as an incidental or collateral effect of the legitimate military employment of laser systems is not covered by this prohibition. Thus, the legitimate use of a laser targeting system in a tank is lawful, even if one of its collateral effects can be that it leads to blindness. However, this laser targeting system should not be deliberately used to blind enemy combatants. 

In the employment of arms applying laser technology for purposes other than causing blindness (i.e. for ranging purposes), it is incumbent on the states to take all precautionary measures to prevent unintentional blinding. 

It is prohibited to use laser weapons specially designed to cause permanent blindness. This means that lasers intended to blind personnel temporarily, known as dazzle lasers, are permitted. Guidance mechanisms such as target designation or ranging lasers are not prohibited, nor are directed-energy lasers, say, to disable. 

6.15. “It is prohibited to employ laser weapons specifically designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat functions, to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision”. These weapons must not be transferred to other states or non-State entities.

6.15.1. Other laser systems may be employed against military objectives, for example, against military optical equipment even though this may cause incidental effects, including blindness, to the users of that equipment.

6.15.2. “In the employment of laser systems, … all feasible precautions” must be taken “to avoid the incidence of permanent blindness to unenhanced vision.” 

While blinding as an incidental effect of “legitimate military employment” of range finding or target acquisition lasers is not prohibited by [the 1995 Protocol IV to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons], parties thereto are obligated “to take all feasible precautions” to avoid such injuries. 

Directed-energy devices, such as laser … are not proscribed by the law of armed conflict. Lasers may be employed as a rangefinder or for target acquisition, despite the possibility of incidental injury to enemy personnel. Laser “dazzlers” designed to temporarily disorient may also be employed. 

26.2. Persons and objects affected by the war crimes set out in the present provision are persons and objects which international law protects in international or internal armed conflict.

26.3. The following are war crimes:

Efforts are under way to increase the safety of these [laser] systems. For example, the Defence Department’s Defence Science and Technology Organization has a program aimed at making laser range-finders safer through the development and use of lasers which can be operated in the eye-safe region of the electromagnetic spectrum. 

Laser systems are absolutely vital to our modern military. Among other things, they are currently used for detection, targeting, range-finding, communications and target destruction. They provide a critical technological edge to US forces and allow our forces to fight, win and survive on an increasingly lethal battlefield. In addition, lasers provide significant humanitarian benefits. They allow weapons systems to be increasingly discriminate, thereby reducing collateral damage to civilian lives and property. The Department of Defense recognizes that accidental or incidental eye injuries may occur on the battlefield as the result of the use of legitimate laser systems. Therefore we continue to strive, through training and doctrine, to minimize these injuries. 

Welcoming the adoption of Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons as a codification and progressive development of the rules of international law …

The High Contracting Parties solemnly declare:

Their conviction of the importance of the earliest possible entry into force of Protocol IV,

Their desire that all States, pending the entry into force, respect and ensure respect of the substantive provisions of Protocol IV to the fullest extent possible,

Their wish to keep the issue of the blinding effects related to the use of laser systems under consideration. 

Laser target designators and range finders are of great military utility and may reduce the number of casualties or ensure more precise attacks on military targets. Still, experts believe that because they can cause significant injury and permanent blindness, combatants remain under a legal obligation to weigh the human consequences of even these instruments. Perhaps the most important consideration is to ensure that laser range finders and target designators are not abused and used intentionally against the eyesight of individuals and outside their missions. Government officials have expressed the fear that personnel using such lasers might be charged with war crimes if an individual is blinded. However, soldiers and their commanders always are required to know the legitimate and illegitimate, unacceptable uses of weapons.