scholarly journals The British Army’s Training in International Humanitarian Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-315
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Stubbins Bates
Keyword(s):  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Practical Training ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
British Military ◽  
Training Materials ◽  
Pain And Suffering ◽  
The Government ◽  
Colonial Warfare ◽  
The Uk

Abstract States must disseminate international humanitarian law (IHL) and integrate it into military instruction. Implementation of the IHL training obligation was delayed in the UK; when the government asserted that IHL was inapplicable to colonial warfare, resisted the development of the IHL of non-international armed conflict, and was keen to maintain the nuclear deterrent. Absent or perfunctory IHL training correlated with recurrent violations of the prohibitions of torture and inhuman treatment, from the 1950s to the 2000s. Despite official assertions that the British Army’s training in IHL was being reformed following the death of Baha Mousa in British military custody in 2003, there were gradual changes from 2004 to 2011, and more thorough improvements from 2012 to 2017. Training materials for soldiers and officers now offer breadth and detail on IHL, with elements of international human rights law. They implement the 71 recommendations in the Baha Mousa Public Inquiry Report which the Ministry of Defence accepted, and are supplemented by practical training. Yet these are reactive reforms, which still lack norm-by-norm evaluation of soldiers’ understanding. Prohibitions on humiliating or degrading treatment of a sexual nature, and on the intentional infliction of severe mental pain and suffering are (respectively) under-emphasised and absent. References to the necessity of restraint positions (as opposed to the prohibited stress positions) may cause confusion. There is a simplistic suggestion that reprisals are lawful if they are politically authorised. Training reforms have been cited as one reason to close criminal investigations into alleged war crimes: a response which neglects coexistent investigatory obligations.

scholarly journals The Right to Life in Armed Conflict

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Park
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Applicable Law ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right

The controversy surrounding the applicability of the right to life during armed conflict makes it arguably one of the most divisive and topical issues at the junction of international humanitarian law and international human rights law. Recent litigation has, among other things, prompted the UK government to signal an intention to derogate from Article 2, ECHR, subject to certain caveats, in future armed conflicts. The litigation pursuant to Article 2 is also set to continue as the UK, and many other States with right to life obligations, will continue to use lethal force overseas; thus the significance of the issue will remain unabated. The scope and application of the right to life in armed conflict not only concerns parties to the ECHR; the predominance of coalition military operations in recent years has necessitated that it is essential for all troop-contributing States to understand the legal limitations of those States bound by the ECHR. It is equally important that the UN, NATO, NGOs, and other governments not directly involved in the armed conflict are aware of any States’ right to life obligations. Notwithstanding this, the applicability of the right to life in armed conflict is yet to be fully considered in academic literature. This book aims to close this lacuna and address the issue of the right to life in armed conflict by identifying and analysing the applicable law, citing recent examples of State practice, and offering concrete proposals to ensure that States comply with their right to life obligations.

The att and War Profiteering: the Case of the UK

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-201
Author(s):  
Sam Perlo-Freeman
Keyword(s):  
Iraq War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Tony Blair ◽  
Arms Trade ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Blair Government

The Arms Trade Treaty is intended to prevent arms supplies likely to be used to violate International Humanitarian Law or human rights, or exacerbate conflict. Yet, some of the countries who most strongly championed the ATT have continued to supply arms in the face of clear evidence that they are being misused, most notably at present in the war in Yemen. This article addresses this apparent paradox in the case of the UK – the first major arms producing nation to publicly support the ATT. The article situates UK support for the ATT, under the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, in the context of the domestic political considerations of the Blair Government; in particular, the desire to restore the UK’s image as a “force for good” in the world in the wake of the Iraq War. At the same time, the high dependence of the UK arms industry on exports, in particular to Saudi Arabia, drove the government to fail to robustly implement ATT commitments – as well as those from the earlier EU Common Position, and to allow UK arms companies to continue to engage in “war profiteering” in Yemen and elsewhere.

Part Two Rights, 7 The Rights of Victims and Transitional Justice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Espinosa Manuel José Cepeda ◽  
Landau David
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Internal Armed Conflict ◽  
The Government ◽  
Sentence Reductions

Because of the scope and duration of Colombia’s internal armed conflict, that conflict has produced much suffering in the civilian population. This chapter focuses on the Court’s jurisprudence protecting the rights of victims, especially of the internal armed conflict. In this area, the incorporation of international law has been particularly important. Drawing on this jurisprudence, the Court has insisted that victims be given rights to truth, justice, and reparations. The contours of this right have proven particularly important in processes in which the government has sought to give amnesties or sentence reductions in return for participation in the peace process by illegal armed groups, first with paramilitaries and now with guerrilla groups. In reviewing these frameworks, the Court has sought to create criteria that are flexible while retaining the core restrictions of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

How the Right to Life Applies during Armed Conflict

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Park
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Maritime Operations ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Right ◽  
Military Activity ◽  
The Relationship

In considering how the right to life applies during armed conflict, this chapter explores the relationship between international humanitarian law and international human rights law to determine where the two bodies of law can be read harmoniously and where they cannot. The chapter then goes on to consider UK state practice during armed conflict, to assess the extent to which the UK can comply with its substantive and procedural right to life obligations based upon current doctrine and procedures. This involves a consideration of recent UK military activity in Iraq and Afghanistan and during air, land, and maritime operations. It also includes a consideration of the UK’s investigatory procedures following a death during armed conflict.

scholarly journals DISTORTED TERMINOLOGY: THE UK'S CLOSURE OF INVESTIGATIONS INTO ALLEGED TORTURE AND INHUMAN TREATMENT IN IRAQ

2019 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 719-739
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Stubbins Bates
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Middle Range ◽  
Grievous Bodily Harm ◽  
Degrading Treatment ◽  
The Uk

AbstractThe UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has closed hundreds of investigations into alleged ill-treatment of detainees by British troops in Iraq. This article probes one reason given for the closure of these investigations: the assertion (without further evidence) that the allegations were ‘less serious’, ‘lower-level’ or in the ‘middle’ range of severity. These terms usually appear without reference to international law, and are once defined with reference to the English criminal law of assault, so that investigations were closed if the alleged treatment resulted in less than grievous bodily harm. The MOD's terminology is wrong-headed and conceptually underinclusive: it fails to grasp the threshold of inhuman or degrading treatment in international human rights law (IHRL), and largely neglects the investigatory obligations in IHRL, international humanitarian law (IHL) and international criminal law (ICL).

scholarly journals The Legality of Closure on Land and Safe Passage Between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-39
Author(s):  
Marco LONGOBARDO
Keyword(s):  
West Bank ◽  
Gaza Strip ◽  
Local Population ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The West ◽  
Occupied Territory ◽  
The Gaza Strip

Abstract This paper explores the legality of the land closure imposed upon the Gaza Strip by Israel. After having considered the area under occupation, the paper argues that the legality of the closure must be determined under international humanitarian law, international human rights law, the principle of self-determination of peoples, and the Israeli-Palestinian agreements. In the light of these rules, the arbitrary closure of the Gaza Strip should be considered illegal because it breaches the unity between the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, and because it violates the freedom of movement of the local population. Moreover, the closure breaches the relevant rules pertaining to the transit of goods in occupied territory. The paper concludes that most of the violations caused by the closure affect peremptory rules which produce obligations erga omnes, so that any state in the international community is entitled to react under the law of state responsibility.

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