St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Upon the invitation of Alexander Gorchakov, for the purpose of considering the existing rules of war, a conference of delegates representing Austria-Hungary, Bavaria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, the North German Confederation, Russia, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Turkey, and Württemberg met at Saint Petersburg, Russia in December, 1868, and agreed upon the St Petersburg Declaration of 1868.

The delegates affirmed that the only legitimate object of war should be to weaken the military force of the enemy, which could be sufficiently accomplished by the employment of highly destructive weapons. With that fact established, the delegates agreed to prohibit the use of less deadly explosives that might merely injure the combatants and thereby create prolonged suffering of such combatants.

The Great Powers agreed to renounce in case of war among themselves the use of any explosive projectile of less weight than 400 grams (14 ounces avoirdupois) or one charged with fulminating or inflammable substances. The United States took no part in the convention and has never acceded to it.

The influence of this deceleration on international humanitarian law were elucidated in Ryuichi Shimoda et al. v. The State (1963)

... International law of war is not formulated simply on the basis of humanitarian feelings. It has as its basis both considerations of military necessity and effectiveness and humanitarian considerations, and is formulated on a balance of these two factors. To illustrate this, an example often cited in the textbooks may be given, of the provisions of the St. Petersburg Declaration of 1868 prohibiting the use of projectiles under 400 grammes which are either explosive or charged with combustible or inflammable substances. The reason for the prohibition is explained as follows: such projectiles are small and just powerful enough to kill or wound only one man, and as an ordinary bullet will do for this purpose, there is no overriding need for using these inhuman weapons. On the other hand, the use of a certain weapon, great as its inhuman result may be, need not be prohibited by international law it it has a great military effect.^[1]