INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW AND OTHER SOCIAL WAYS COMBATING TERRORISM

Abstract

The International Humanitarian Law (IHL) mainly protects those countries which do not involve in it the activities of hostilities and also keep under control the method and system of warfare. This paper deals with the meaning, definition and purpose of International Humanitarian Law and highlights the fact that IHL takes measures concerning with armed struggle between states which can either be at international or non-international level. This Law aims at providing protection to combatant and non-combatant who have been disabled during conflict. Given that this body of law applies during times of extreme violence. Implementing the law will always be a matter of great difficulty. Therefore, striving for its effective compliance remains as urgent as ever to protect the combatant against the acts of violence and terrorism. Terrorism has become a problem of global proportions. It kills people, threatens democratic institutions, undermines the economy and destabilizes regions.  The paper seeks to clarify the term terrorism as a social phenomenon. It is an ideology, policy and social practice adopted by groups or individuals with a view to attaining a particular goal through unlawful, violent methods.  The author elaborates that social problems, if left untreated, can lead to the emergence of a deep social divide, wide disparities in material welfare and human rights and can serve as a precondition for public frustration, social disadvantage and marginalization. Terrorism has its roots in socio-cultural malfunction. This research paper also throws light on the scourge of terrorism and the circumstances and the states in which it has haunted Indian policy-makers since independence. In our country some of the states, particularly the bordering states, having different cultural and ethnic composition from the heartland suffered from a real or perceived sense of neglect and lack of good governance. India's experience in combating insurgency or terrorism in those states has generally been of finding a military solution to a political problem. Central and state governments have responded with various actions, mostly military, within own borders but lacked a coherent policy to combating terrorism. This paper is an attempt to look at the scope of applicability of IHL, changing dynamics of terrorism, threat of terrorism to national security, and suggests some socio-cultural measures that might form part of a possible counter terrorism strategy for India. It is vital that military, political and legal mechanisms for combating terrorism be supplemented by other methods based on anti-terrorist social and cultural engineering.