Laws Restricting White Phosphorus

Laws Restricting the Use of White Phosphorus in Armed Conflicts

Although white phosphorus is not comprehensively banned by a single treaty, its use is constrained by a web of rules under international humanitarian law. It is treated as an incendiary weapon, and is subject to strict limitations under Protocol III to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), which prohibits directing incendiary weapons against civilians or civilian objects, bans air-delivered incendiary weapons in concentrations of civilians, and restricts ground-based delivery systems as well. 0

The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that white phosphorus is not considered a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) because it acts primarily as an incendiary agent rather than through “chemical action on life processes.” However, WHO also stresses that the use of white phosphorus may violate CCW Protocol III when it is intentionally employed as an incendiary weapon against people in civilian settings, given the severe burns and long-term contamination of soil, water and air that it causes. 1

In addition, customary international humanitarian law rules 84 and 85 require parties to take particular care to avoid civilian harm and to choose means and methods of warfare that cause the least possible damage when alternatives are available. This implies that using white phosphorus in populated or agricultural areas can be unlawful when it inflicts excessive harm on civilians and the environment in relation to any anticipated military advantage. 2

In practice, this legal framework does not totally ban white phosphorus, but it does impose severe restrictions on its use and provides a basis for treating certain uses – especially in civilian or rural areas – as serious violations of international humanitarian law that may amount to environmental war crimes or even ecocide when intent or gross negligence is present.