Argentina
Practice Relating to Rule 70. Weapons of a Nature to Cause Superfluous Injury or Unnecessary Suffering
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1969) states that “the use of weapons, projectiles or material which can cause unnecessary suffering” is especially prohibited. It adds: “The projectiles and weapons covered by this prohibition shall be determined solely by the common practice of States to refrain from using certain means of warfare in recognition that they cause such suffering.”
Argentina’s Law of War Manual (1989) provides: “The use of weapons, projectiles, materials and methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering is prohibited.”
In the
Military Junta case in 1985, Argentina’s National Court of Appeals, with reference to Articles 22 and 23 of the 1907 Hague Regulations, mentioned the prohibition on the use of weapons, projectiles or material which cause “unnecessary damage” to enemies. It also referred to the opinion of some writers, according to whom unnecessary harm to the enemy or to the civilian population is prohibited.