JUR1730 International Humanitarian Law (University of Oslo)
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Course
International Humanitarian Law (JUR1730)
Institution
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RuG)
This is a comprehensive compilation of all my lecture notes from the course "JU1730 International Humanitarian Law". It is from my exchange semester in the University of Oslo. It is a very detailed source to have, even if you are not doing the course in Norway. The covers a wide range of subjects f...
Page 2: Lecture 1: Introduction: History, Sources and Main Principles
- Intro to IHL
a. Terminology and related areas
b. Jus ad bellum (before) and Jus in bello
c. Main sources of IHL
d. Scope of application
- Main Principles
Page 6: Lecture 2: International and Non-International Armed Conflicts
• Two types of armed conflict: IACs and NIACs (3rd type: internationalized/ transnational?)
• Scenarios and examples;
• Rights and duties of combatants and civilians in IAC:
- Combatant privilege;
- Distinction.
• Rights and duties of combatants and civilians in NIACs:
- Direct participation in hostilities (DPH);
- Distinction.
• Aims and scope of applicable law/ customary IHL/ similarities and distinctions between IACs and NIACs.
Pay 11: Lecture 3: Methods in Armed Conflict
- Methods of war, sources, main principles
- Principles applying to methods
- Kill or capture (privileges, target/combatant immunity)
- Methods
- The Case
Page 21: Lecture 4: Means of war in Armed Conflict
1. Principles (indiscriminate, environmental, unnecessary suffering/superfluous injury)
2. Weapons explicitly prohibited
3. Weapons of Mass Destruction
4. New means
Page 27: Lecture 5: Protected Persons and Civilian Objects
1. Regimes of protection
2. Protected places and protected objects: civilian objects and civilian property
3. Protected emblems
4. Grave breaches system
5. Protected persons: civilians (women/children), PoW, Hors de combat, medical/religious personnel
Page 33: Lecture 6: Implementation and Enforcement of IHL
- Main methods and mechanisms of enforcement of IHL
- Characteristics and development of enforcement mechanism over time
Page 40: Lecture 7: The Application of IHL in International Peace Operations
- Peace Operation
, 2
- Legal framework
- Rights/obligations of peacekeepers
- IHL as binding o nTroop Contributing States and on the UN
- UN as an occupying force
Page 45: Lecture 8: Responsibility for IHL Violations and the Prosecution of War Crimes
Page 49: Lecture 9: The Relationship between IHL and Other Branches of Public Int Law
- int law
- Environmental protection
- Int hr law
- Int criminal law
Lecture 1: Introduction: History, Sources and Main Principles
Outline
- Intro to course
- Intro to IHL
b. Terminology and related areas
c. Jus ad bellum (before) and Jus in bello
d. Main sources of IHL
e. Scope of application
- Main Principles
IHL as part of Int Law
, 3
Jus ad bellum vs in bello
Jus ad bellum: set of criteria that are to be consulted before engaging in war in order to
determine whether entering into war is permissible and justifiable
- To which extent the use of military force against another state is allowed
a. UN Charter Article 2(4): The prohibition against use of force
b. ICC Statute: Crime of aggression
- Criteria:
1. Proper authority and public declaration - The principle of right authority suggests
that a war is just only if waged by a legitimate authority. (state sovereignty) and
publicly declared
2. Just cause / right intention - the aim of war must not be to pursue narrowly defined
national interests, but rather to re-establish a just peace. This state of peace should
be preferable to the conditions that would have prevailed had the war not occurred.
Wars cannot be fought simply to annex property or install a regime change. Right
cause includes humanitarian intervention + R2P.
3. Probability of success - there must be good grounds for concluding that aims of
the just war are achievable. This principle emphasises that mass violence must not
be undertaken if it is unlikely to secure the just cause.This criterion is to avoid
invasion for invasion's sake and links to the proportionality criteria.
4. Proportionality - the violence used in the war must be proportional to the military
objectives. The level of military victory must be proportional to the level of
destruction that ensues. Can justify collateral damage.
5. Last resort - all non-violent options must first be exhausted before the use of force
can be justified. Diplomatic options, sanctions, and other non-military methods
must be attempted or validly ruled out before the engagement of hostilities. Further,
in regard to the amount of harm—proportionally—the principle of last resort would
support using small intervention forces first and then escalating rather than starting
a war with massive force such as carpet bombing or nuclear attacks.
Jus in bello: regulates the conduct of warring parties (what rules apply during armed conflict?)
- Conduct in armed conflicts
- Protection of civilians and individuals hors de combat
• Refers to persons who are incapable of performing their ability to wage war.
• Examples include fighter pilots or aircrews parachuting from their disabled aircraft, as
well as the sick, wounded, detained, or otherwise disabled. Persons hors de combat
, 4
are normally granted special protections according to the laws of war, sometimes
including prisoner-of-war status, and therefore officially become non-combatants.
• Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, unlawful combatants hors de combat are
granted the same privilege and to be treated with humanity while in captivity but unlike
lawful combatants, they are subject to civilian trial and punishment (which may include
capital punishment if the detaining power has such a punishment for the crimes they
have committed).
• Geneva Convention Protocol I
- Protection of combatants
- Means and methods of warfare
- Relationship to neutral States
Belligerent Actors:
Modern laws of war regarding conduct during war (jus in bello), such as the 1949 Geneva
Conventions, provide that it is unlawful for belligerents to engage in combat without meeting
certain requirements, such as wearing distinctive uniform or other distinctive signs visible at a
distance, carrying weapons openly, and conducting operations in accordance with the laws and
customs of war. Impersonating enemy combatants by wearing the enemy's uniform is allowed,
though fighting in that uniform is unlawful perfidy, as is the taking of hostages.
-Combatants also must be commanded by a responsible officer. That is, a commander can be
held liable in a court of law for the improper actions of his or her subordinates. There is an
exception to this if the war came on so suddenly that there was no time to organize a resistance,
e.g. as a result of a foreign occupation.
Main aim of IHL: reduce to the maximum extent possible the human and other costs of armed
conflict. The law of war is binding not only upon States as such but also upon individuals and, in
particular, the members of their armed forces.
Sources
1. Conventions (Geneva)
2. CIL (opinio juris + usus)
Statute of the ICJ, Art. 38:
(a) international conventions, whether general or particular, establishing rules expressly recognized by the
contesting states;
(b) international custom, as evidence of a general practice accepted as law;
(c) the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations;
(d) judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified publicists of the various nations, as
subsidiary means for the determination of rules of law.
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