--- title: "How do international laws regulate the conduct of nations during war?" description: "How do international laws regulate the conduct of nations during war?" author: "Amrith Chandran" published: 2025-09-10 updated: 2025-09-19 canonical: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/115680/how-do-international-laws-regulate-the-conduct-of-nations-during-war category: "world politics" tags: ["world politics"] reading_time: 2 minutes --- # How do international laws regulate the conduct of nations during war? ## Answers ### Answer by Himanshi Gupta When two countries fight in a [war](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/view/88258/human-vs-machine-decision-making-in-war), there are still some [rules](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/43901/blackjack-rules) they have to follow. These rules are called [international laws](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/115259/what-international-laws-exist-to-govern-warfare-and-protect-human-rights-during-conflict). They are made so that wars don’t become too cruel. One big rule is about protecting [people](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2295/more-people-need-to-monitor-this-crucial-metric-for-heart-health) who are not soldiers, like [children](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/299938/sleep-and-children), [women](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/300145/women-designers-leather-jackets), old people. Countries should not [attack](https://www.mindstick.com/blog/300788/why-is-heart-attack-increasing-in-the-younger-generation) schools or hospitals. Another rule is about prisoners of war. If one [country](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2337/vikram-s-the-country-s-first-privately-developed-rocket-will-launch-on-november-15) catches enemy soldiers, they should not torture them, but treat them like humans. There are also rules about weapons. Some weapons are banned like chemical weapons, because they are too dangerous and hurt innocent people too. These laws are written in Geneva Conventions and other treaties. Almost all countries agreed to follow them. But sadly, sometimes in real wars countries break these laws. When they do, the [world](https://www.mindstick.com/news/2334/what-would-occur-if-the-world-were-to-divide-in-half) can punish them, like United Nations or International Court. The idea of these laws is not to stop war completely, but to make it less horrible. Like even in a fight, there are some limits. It is like in [school](https://www.mindstick.com/articles/311528/advantages-of-an-ib-boarding-school-in-the-same-city), if we fight, teacher says don’t hit too hard, don’t use sticks, and don’t hurt small kids. So international laws are like the teacher of the world, telling countries how to behave even when fighting. --- Original Source: https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/115680/how-do-international-laws-regulate-the-conduct-of-nations-during-war Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.