The Faculty of Law, University of Karbala, discussed a master’s thesis entitled “International Protection of the Dead in Armed Conflicts (A Comparative Study with Islamic Law)”. The message was submitted by the student Hussein Arif Hashem.
The message aimed to show that the mortuary management system constitutes one of the most difficult aspects in addressing the effects of armed conflict, and it is often overlooked by the parties to the conflict that seek to achieve military objectives without regard for the resulting victims or to conceal the grave violations of human rights that it entails International responsibility, knowing that human civilizations, traditions, and monotheistic religions stress the need to respect the dead and that any attack that affects them is a violation of international humanitarian law.
The study also showed that armed conflicts are one of the most important causes of human disasters, especially in light of the terrible development of weapons and means of destruction, and these conflicts still cause a lot of suffering to people on a large scale. They have a share of their evil.
The researcher reached a number of conclusions and recommendations, the most important of which is that the international community has been unable to establish a legal system that prevents the outbreak of these conflicts, and in consideration of humanitarian principles, efforts have been directed to alleviating the impact of their effects on civilian and military victims, through the development of certain mechanisms and means that ensure good management to protect The living and dead victims. As a result of the international efforts made within the framework of respect for the dead, the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 established texts ensuring this respect along with customary rules that enhance protection, similar to the treatment of living victims.