f u l l t e x t Protocol on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Incendiary Weapons (Protocol III). Geneva, 10 October 1980.
Article 1
Definitions
For the purpose of this Protocol:
1. "Incendiary weapon" means any weapon or munition
which is primarily designed to set fire to objects or to cause burn
injury to persons through the action of flame, heat, or combination
thereof, produced by a chemical reaction of a substance delivered on
the target. (a) Incendiary weapons can take the form of, for example,
flame throwers, fougasses, shells, rockets, grenades, mines, bombs and
other containers of incendiary substances.
(b) Incendiary weapons do not include:
(i) Munitions which may have incidental incendiary effects, such as illuminants, tracers, smoke or signalling systems;
(ii) Munitions designed to combine penetration, blast or fragmentation effects with an additional incendiary effect, such as armour-piercing projectiles, fragmentation shells, explosive bombs and similar combined-effects munitions in which the incendiary effect is not specifically designed to cause burn injury to persons, but to be used against military objectives, such as armoured vehicles, aircraft and installations or facilities.
2. "Concentration of civilians" means any
concentration of civilians, be it permanent or temporary, such as in
inhabited parts of cities, or inhabited towns or villages, or as in
camps or columns of refugees or evacuees, or groups of nomads.
3. "Military objective" means, so far as objects
are concerned, any object which by its nature, location, purpose or use
makes an effective contribution to military action and whose total or
partial destruction, capture or neutralization, in the circumstances
ruling at the time, offers a definite military advantage.
4. "Civilian objects" are all objects which are not military objectives as defined in paragraph 3.
5. "Feasible precautions" are those precautions
which are practicable or practically possible taking into account all
circumstances ruling at the time, including humanitarian and military
considerations.
Article 2
Protection of civilians and civilian objects
1. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make
the civilian population as such, individual civilians or civilian
objects the object of attack by incendiary weapons.
2. It is prohibited in all circumstances to make
any military objective located within a concentration of civilians the
object of attack by air-delivered incendiary weapons.
3. It is further prohibited to make any military
objective located within a concentration of civilians the object of
attack by means of incendiary weapons other than air-delivered
incendiary weapons, except when such military objective is clearly
separated from the concentration of civilians and all feasible
precautions are taken with a view to limiting the incendiary effects to
the military objective and to avoiding, and in any event to minimizing,
incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to
civilian objects.
4. It is prohibited to make forests or other kinds
of plant cover the object of attack by incendiary weapons except when
such natural elements are used to cover, conceal or camouflage
combatants or other military objectives, or are themselves military
objectives.