International Laws

The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) of 1993 explicitly bans the development, production, acquisition, stockpiling, retention, transfer, or use of chemical weapons. Examples include:

• Mustard gas
• Sarin
• VX

The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) of 1972 prohibits the development, production, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons. These include:

• Anthrax
• Botulinum toxin
• Plague

The Ottawa Treaty (1997), also known as the Mine Ban Treaty, prohibits the use, stockpiling, production, and transfer of anti-personnel landmines. It aims to eliminate mines that:

• Detonate by the presence, proximity, or contact of a person

The Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) of 2008 bans the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster bombs, which are designed to disperse multiple explosive submunitions over a wide area.

The Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons (Protocol IV to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, CCW) of 1995 bans the use of laser weapons specifically designed to cause permanent blindness.

The Hague Conventions of 1899 prohibit the use of bullets that expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as "dum-dum" bullets.

Protocol III of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) restricts the use of incendiary weapons, particularly against civilians and in air-delivered incendiary attacks on military objectives within concentrations of civilians.

The Geneva Protocol of 1925 bans the use of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases, and bacteriological methods of warfare. This includes chemical agents like:

• Chlorine gas
• Phosgene

Protocol II of the CCW regulates and restricts the use of booby traps and other devices, especially those that are designed to kill or injure in a manner that is not easily detected.

While not explicitly banned under the Geneva Conventions, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) adopted in 2017 seeks to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons, although key nuclear-armed states have not signed it.

• Protocol I on Non-Detectable Fragments (1980)
• Protocol II on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Mines, Booby-Traps and Other Devices (1980, amended 1996)
• Protocol III on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (1980)
• Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons (1995)
• Protocol V on Explosive Remnants of War (2003)