European International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research
and Management Studies
126
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TYPE
Original Research
PAGE NO.
126-128
DOI
OPEN ACCESS
SUBMITED
28 February 2025
ACCEPTED
30 March 2025
PUBLISHED
30 April 2025
VOLUME
Vol.05 Issue04 2025
COPYRIGHT
© 2025 Original content from this work may be used under the terms
of the creative commons attributes 4.0 License.
Humanitarian Ideas in
Times of Armed Conflict
Ovlaqulov Nu’mon Abduvali o‘g‘li
Assistant of the Department of social-humanitarian Sciences of TKTI,
Uzbekistan
Abstract:
According to a number of legal scholars, the
laws that should be followed during wars have been
established mainly by international organizations since
the 19th century. The article shows, using historical
events as an example, that such humanitarian ideas
were formed as legal norms much earlier in the history
of Uzbek statehood.
Keywords:
International
humanitarian
law,
humanitarian ideas applied in armed conflicts,
humanitarianism.
Introduction:
We know that in the current globalization
process, conflicts are escalating between a number of
countries in the world for various reasons. These
conflicts are causing political, economic and even
armed conflicts.
A number of international organizations have been
operating in order to prevent such relations from
becoming too violent, and if we look at the nature of
these international organizations, we can see that their
activities are based on humanitarian ideas. We can cite
the International Committee of the Red Cross, the
United Nations, the Red Crescent Society and other
international organizations as examples.
For example, in 1859, the Swiss businessman Henri
Dunant came to Italy to meet with the French Emperor
Napoleon III in order to establish business relations and
became a witness to the war of the combined army of
France and Sardinia against Austria in the city of
Solferino. Seeing more than 40 thousand wounded and
dead soldiers as a result of the war, he forgot the main
purpose of his visit. He turns a nearby church into a
medical facility and begins to help the wounded. This
humanitarian idea is joined by various people, including
women, the elderly, young children, and lightly
wounded soldiers. In 1862, Henri Dunant returned to
his homeland and wrote “Memoirs of Solferino”.
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In his work, Henri Dunant calls for the creation of an
organization that would regulate international wars,
and for the formation of legal documents that would
have to be signed between states. On February 17,
1863, the International Committee of the Red Cross
was founded in Geneva, Switzerland.
To date, a number of humanitarian rights have been
adopted at the Geneva Conference that must be
observed during armed conflicts. In particular,
- It is forbidden to conduct military operations in
populated areas;
- It is forbidden to use force against or destroy national
and cultural heritage;
- It is forbidden to open fire on public buildings;
- It is forbidden to oppress or rob soldiers or civilians in
distress;
- It is forbidden to be a combatant (a person who openly
carries a weapon during wartime, who is capable of
causing harm (including possible persons) not to open
fire on other people and other legal documents.
If we look at the history of Uzbekistan, we can conclude
that this land is a place where a number of bloody wars,
invasions, movements and uprisings for the freedom of
the homeland took place. Based on historical sources,
we can say that the humanitarian ideals of the above-
mentioned armed conflicts are occasionally reflected in
the history of our homeland.
At this point, let us pay attention to the concept of
humanism. It is a concept that expresses concern for
the dignity, freedom, happiness, equal rights of a
person, and for creating conditions for the
manifestation of all the principles of humanity.
According to it, the most valuable thing in the world is
a person, all existence, being should serve a person, his
happiness. Concern for the fate of a person, the
interests of the people, and the people of the country
is the main issue of humanism.
Spitamen was a man of great courage. He fought to win
over the Macedonians. Alexander sent his men to him
several times and tried to make peace. He promised
him the governorship of Sogdiana, but Spitamen did
not want to betray his people. Judging by historical
sources, Spitamen impressed Alexander of Macedon
not only with his patriotism and military skills, but also
with his human qualities. For example, when Sotsicle's
son (Philip II's general) Paephon and Cifader Aristonicus
were returning to their camp in disorder, they were
surrounded by the Scythians led by Spitamen. Here the
Macedonians lost 60 hired horsemen. Paephon was
wounded and taken prisoner. The capture of his
commander greatly worried Alexander the Great.
Because Paephon was one of the few people he loved
as his own brother. Alexander sent Ptolemy (Alexander
the Great's general) as an ambassador to Spitamen with
many gifts to free the captured Paephon. Ptolemy,
seeing the pitiful state of his comrade with four guides
given by the Massagetae elder, set out that night and
traveled all day, arriving at the king's camp the next
night. The patient, who had come from a difficult
journey, was completely exhausted, and when the king
came to him, he was confused. Alexander called his
most famous doctors and ordered them to apply
ointment to Peyphon's wound. The doctors said that if
they had applied ointment to Peyphon immediately
after he was wounded, he could have healed him. But
now it was too late. They could not find any way to
remove the shoulder blade. In this way, he suffered
from the wound for eighteen days, sometimes coming
to his senses, sometimes passing away. When Peyphon
regained consciousness, he spoke of Spitamen's
bravery. Spitamen, addressing the warriors who began
to beat his commander, said that "it is not the work of
a brave man to torment a wounded man. He is still a
young man, if God gives him life, he will recover," and
strictly ordered the village elder to take care of the
patient. Hearing about such bravery of Spitamen, the
king said, "God has given him more than reason." From
this we can conclude that Spitamen treated the enemy
soldier primarily as a person, and it is worth saying that
a single soul saved during the war can be a vivid
manifestation of humanity and remain in history for
thousands of years.
The ideas of humanity used during military operations
can be found in many realities in the history of Uzbek
military martial arts. Many historical realities related to
the topic we are interpreting can be found in the
military operations of our grandfather - Amir Temur,
who still amazes the world not only with his state
administration, military operations, and just policy
towards citizens, but also with his high scientific,
spiritual and religious views, courage, courage,
determination and justice.
Although Amir Temur operated within his own
medieval traditions, he sought to advance human
interests and became the first to initiate the idea of a
"single space" where people could live in one territory,
regardless of race, nationality, religion, or origin.
Amir Temur's policy of tolerance (religious tolerance)
requires a separate study. He was one of the rulers who
first laid the foundation for this idea. In his letters to
Christian kings, he says, “If you send your merchants to
our side, we will welcome them warmly, with all due
respect. If our merchants go to your side and show
them the same respect. Let them travel without any
danger or obstacle. It is useless to deny the saying that
merchants make the world prosperous.” As religious
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conflicts intensified, countries became hostile to each
other for this reason, especially in those times when the
West and the East did not know each other well, and
wars broke out on the basis of religious enmity. It was
unlikely that friendly relations between the two
continents would be established. Amir Temur was the
first to propose to the Western kingdoms to strengthen
relations between the West and the East through
treaties and sought to resolve this problem from an
official perspective. It can be said that in Amir Temur's
"Temur Regulations" we can see some of the rules that
should be followed in waging war, as specified in the
Geneva Conventions.
In the sultanate, great attention was paid to the
construction of mosques, madrasas, administrative
buildings, streets, parks, new villages and cities, baths,
markets, tim, bridges, hospitals, canals, ditches and
other structures. The historian Sharafiddin Ali Yazdi
wrote about the construction of the city of Boylakon in
the Caucasus: "The project of Hazrat Sahibkiran to
repair Boylakon passed through his blessed memory.
That city was destroyed for a long time, and there was
neither a single building nor an animal or insect. In its
territory, special engineers and architects with a special
designation were engaged in the history of the city,
who laid out its moat and four markets and many
houses and baths and caravansary squares and gardens
and a courtyard. And the territory was distributed by
agreement among the princes, emirs and beks. In the
state of Amir Temur, certain rules were also established
that had to be followed during the war. Historical
sources allow us to know how he treated the rules for
starting a war. According to them, an ultimatum was
declared before starting any war. For example, in 1394
Before the military actions against Tokhtamysh Khan on
the Terek River, Amir Temur, in order to prevent a
bloody war, sent him a letter with the following
content: "Do you want peace or not? Choose one of
them. I am ready for both."
The issue of discipline in the army is very clearly defined
in its "Regulations", in which the rules for treating
civilians and prisoners of war are distinguished by their
humaneness. Special judges were appointed to
supervise disciplinary matters in the army, and they
were given great rights.
For example, in the "Tuzuklar" we read the following
words: "If any of the enemy's soldiers, having justified
the salt of their state, drew their swords against us, and
then (i.e. after the battle) voluntarily or under
compulsion, came to our shelter, let us trust such a
soldier and cherish him. I had forbidden the killing of
prisoners. I gave them the opportunity to choose to join
me or be free", "Whichever country I conquered, I
cherished the dignitaries of that place; I paid homage
to its sayyids, scholars, fuzalo and mashoyiks, I
respected them greatly. I gave them suyurgul, tasks,
and determined their salaries, I considered the great
men of that region as my brothers and sisters, and the
youth and children as my own children. I gave the
soldiers of this country a way to my palace, and I I
turned it on myself.”
If we look at other sources, Kaykovus’s “Nightmare”
states: “... one should be merciful to prisoners, because
killing a prisoner is not praiseworthy and even
reprehensible.”
Many aspects of humanity can be found in the customs
and traditions of the peoples of Central Asia. Almost all
of them prohibit the killing of the elderly, children,
women, and mentally ill during war, the destruction of
people’s homes, the cutting down of trees, and the
setting of grain on fire. Among them, physical harm to
people and the killing of prisoners are prohibited.
Consider the following thoughts of Abu Nasr al-Farabi,
one of the great thinke
rs of the Middle Ages: “If a ruler
wages war against some people only to make them
submit to him, ... then this is an unjust war, ... if he
wages war or kills only to satisfy his anger or to enjoy
the taste of victory, then this is also unjust, ... if the guilt
of the people who provoked his anger is not such as to
deserve war or death, then war or murder is also
unjust. Often, people who are driven by anger, seeking
to vent their anger through murder, kill innocent
people, not those they have angered.”
International humanitarian law, which must be applied
during armed conflicts, is currently accepted by
international organizations. If we pay attention to
them, we can see a number of articles such as religious
tolerance, non-harm to prisoners of war, non-conduct
of hostilities in civilian areas, non-damage to cultural
monuments, etc. It should be noted that laws and
restrictions with such legal status were discussed many
years ago in the history of Uzbekistan.
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