International Humanitarian Law/ Law of Armed Conflict
Detailed course overview and proposed readings
Fall 2010
- Introduction to international humanitarian law
- Topics
- International law, sources and methods
- Jus ad bellum and jus in bello (IHL and the UN Charter)
- History and rationale for IHL
- Main sources of IHL
- Who are protected by IHL
- When does IHL apply (Qualifications of conflicts)
- Legal sources
- The Statute for the International Court of Justice, art. 38
- The Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, in particular art. 30-33
- The UN Charter, particularly art. 2(4), 39, 42 and 51
- The Geneva Conventions, and in particular their Common Article 2
- Additional Protocol 1 and 2 to the Geneva Conventions
- Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions
- Recommended readings (Fleck, Dieter (ed.), The Handbook of Humanitarian Law, Oxford University Press, 2008):
Chapter 1: Historical Development and Legal Basis (Page 1 – 39)
Chapter 2: Scope of Application of Humanitarian Law (Page 45-62 and 72-78)
- Main principles of IHL: military necessity, precaution, distinction, proportionality and the “dictates of the public conscience”
- Topics
-The principle of proportionality:
- Limited warfare
- Military necessity
- Unnecessary suffering/injury
- Distinction
- The Martens clause
- The Lieber Code
- Legal sources
-1907 Hague Convention IV and Regulations, Preamble and art.22, Additional Protocol 1, including art.35 and 48
- Recommended readings
Read Chapter 1 and 2 again
- Status of persons related to qualification of conflicts
- Topics
-Status of combatants related to level of conflict
-Status of civilians related to level of conflict
-Status of persons taking part in hostilities (“Fighters”, “Insurgents” etc.) related to level of conflict
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- Legal sources
-Geneva Convention III, Article 4
-Additional protocol I, Article 43-44, article 50, 51
- Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions
- Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions
- Recommended readings
- Chapter 3: Combatants and Non-Combatants (Page 80-110)
- Chapter 12: The Law of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Page 605-629)
- Methods in armed conflict – legal framework
- Topics
-The terms “military objective” and “civilian object”
- Combatant status
- Indiscriminate attacks
- Targeting
- Ruses of war and perfidy
- Reprisals
- Legal sources
- Additional Protocol 1, art. 43, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57
- Additional Protocol 1, art.37
- Vienna Convention on the Law on Treaties art. 60 (5)
- Recommended readings
-Chapter 4: Methods and Means of Combat (Page 175-232)
- Means in armed conflict – legal framework
- Topics
-Early regulations of weapons (maux superfluous)
-Weapons of Mass Destruction
- Environmental modification as warfare
- Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons
- Anti personnel landmines
- “Non-lethal” weapons
- International process on cluster weapons
-Technological innovation and its influence on warfare
- Legal sources
- Additional Protocol 1, art.35 (2) and art 51 (4) (b)
- The Petersburg Declaration (1868)
- The Non Proliferation Treaty (1968)
- Biological Weapons Convention (1972)
- ENMOD Convention (1977)
- The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons with protocols (1980)
- Chemical Weapons Convention with protocols (1993)
- The Mine Ban Convention (1997)
- The Cluster Munitions Convention (2008)
- Recommended readings
- Chapter 4: Methods and Means of Combat (Page 126-174)
- Group work/Role play
- Protection of Prisoners Of War (POWs) and civilians
- Topics
- Status as POW
- Conditions of internment
- Termination, repatriation
- Protection of the civilian population in armed conflict
- Civil defence
- Occupied territory
- Occupation – rights and duties, jurisdiction, etc.
- Aliens in the territory of a party to the conflict
- Internment of civilians
- Legal sources
- POW’s
- Hague Regulations 1907 (art. 4-20)
- Geneva Convention III
- Additional Protocol 1, art. 43-47 and 75
- Civilians
- Hague Regulations 1907 (art. 42 – 56)
- Geneva Convention IV
- Additional protocol I
- Recommended readings
Chapter 5: Protection of the Civilian Population (Page 237-319)
Chapter 6: Protection of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked (Page 325-358)
Chapter 7: Protection of Prisoners of war (Page 367-412)
- Red Cross Seminar on protection of civilians
- a) Special protection of cultural property and environment
b) National implementation of IHL
- Topics (a)
-The legal framework for the Protection of Cultural Property in an armed conflict
-The legal framework for the protection of the environment in an armed conflict
- Legal sources (a)
-1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in Armed Conflict
-Protocol 1 of 1954 concerning cultural property in situations of occupation
-Additional Porotocol 1 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, in particular Article 53
-Article 8 of the Statute of Rome (ICC)
-1999 Second Protocol to the 1954 Convention
-Customary International Law
- Recommended readings (a)
Chapter 9: Protection of Cultural Property (433-471)
- Topics (b)
-National implementation
- National criminal law/military law
- Military manuals and instructions
- Rules of Engagement
-Dissemination
- ICRC
- International Fact Finding Commission
-Deterrent measures
-Universal jurisdiction
- Legal Sources (b)
-Geneva Conventions Common Article 1, Article 49 and 50 of Geneva Convention I (likewise art. 50 and 51 of GC II, Art.129 and 130 of GC III, Art. 146 and 147 of GC IV), Article 85 and 86 (2) of Additional Protocol I
- Recommended readings (b)
-Chapter 14: Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law (Page 675-706)
- Grave breaches – individual criminal responsibility (ICC)
- Topics
-International mechanisms for prosecution since WWII
- Nuremberg and Tokyo
- ICTY and ICTR
- ICC
-Crimes under international law
- Genocide
- Crimes against humanity
- War crimes
- (The crime of aggression)
- Legal sources
-The Charter of the International Military Tribunal (1945)
-The Statutes of the ICTY and the ICTR (1993 and 1994)
-The ICC Statute (1997)
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- Recommended readings
Article 8 of the ICC Statute
Chapter 3: Combatants and Non-Combatants (Page 80-110)
- Asymmetrical warfare and “direct participation in hostilities”
- Topics
- The characteristics and problems of asymmetrical warfare: from the 1907 Hague Conference to contemporary conflicts
- When do civilians loose their protection because of “direct participation in hostilities”
- When can targeted killings outside of combat situations be justified
- Legal Sources
- AP I, art. 51 (3)
- Recommended readings
Chapter 3: Combatants and Non-Combatants (Page 80-110)
Chapter 12: The Law of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Page 605-629)
- The relationship between international humanitarian law and international human rights law
- Topics
-The main content of IHL and HRL
-The scope of application forIHL and HRL (protection for whom and in which situations)
-Derogation from human rights in emergencies
-The “gap” between IHL and HRL / complementarity
- Legal sources
-Human rights conventions (in particular ECHR, ICCPR)
-Article 15 of ECHR and article 4 of ICCPR
-The Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols
-Common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, and art. 75 of Additional Protocol 1
- Recommended readings
-Human Rights Committee’s General Comments on ICCPR Article 2 and 4
- ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall
in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (2003)
- Non-international armed conflicts and combatant Status
- Topics
-Asymmetrical warfare
-Security detention of unprivileged combatants
-Humanitarian law and “the war on terror”
-Situations below the threshold of IHL
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- Legal sources
- Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions
- Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions
- Article 75 of Additional Protocol I
- The UN Charter
- Recommended readings
- Chapter 3: Combatants and Non-Combatants (Page 80-110)
- Chapter 12: The Law of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Page 605-629)
- Group work
- Discussion of mock exam/ exam preparations