Origin and nature of human rights law and humanitarian law However, as human rights law and humanitarian law have totally different historical origins, the codification of these laws has until very recently followed entirely different lines. The purpose of this paper is to consider the philosophy of these two branches of law in the light of their origins, how in many essential respects they nevertheless coincide, how they have influenced each other in recent developments and, finally, to consider how their similarities and differences could influence their future use. International humanitarian law is increasingly perceived as part of human rights law applicable in armed conflict. This trend can be traced back to the United Nations Human Rights Conference held in Tehran in 1968 which not only encouraged the development of humanitarian law itself, but also marked the beginning of a growing use by the United Nations of humanitarian law during its examination of the human rights situation in certain countries or during its thematic studies. The greater awareness of the relevance of humanitarian law to the protection of people in armed conflict, coupled with the increasing use of human rights law in international affairs, means that both these areas of law now have a much greater international profile and are regularly being used together in the work of both international and non-governmental organizations. Sylvain Vité holds a law degree from Geneva University. He continued his studies at the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, and has just obtained an advanced diploma in international relations with specialization in international law, for which he wrote a dissertation on the International Fact-Finding Commission. He is an assistant lecturer on constitutional law at Geneva University and is currently doing a traineeship with the ICRC's Legal Division. which appeared in the November-December 1990 issue of the Review.
Louise Doswald-Beck, LLM (London), a barrister, was a lecturer in international law at Exeter University and University College London, where her special subjects were the law of recourse to force, international humanitarian law and human rights law. She is a legal adviser at the ICRC she has specialized in particular on questions relating to the conduct of hostilities and advises the ICRC on international human rights law. She has published numerous articles, including an article on "The development of new anti-personnel weapons" written together with Gérald C.
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