Prosecuting International Crimes in Peru

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-600
Author(s):  
Dino Carlos Caro Coria

AbstractThe internal conflict in Peru that ranged from 1980 to the mid 90s entailed serious crimes committed by armed groups, especially "Sendero Luminoso" (Shining Path) and by the state's own armed forces, in particular the military and paramilitary groups such as the "Colina Group". These crimes ranged from attacks against civilians in violation of international humanitarian law, to enforced disappearances of persons, torture, and extrajudicial executions. In some cases, these crimes have even qualified as genocide.

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-35
Author(s):  
Fadillah Agus

Abstract The preferable implementation of article 47 of the First Geneva Convention 1949 is conducting activities in the format of military training and exercises rather than seminars. The contents, methodology as well as the instructor should be in accordance with military operations that will be encountered by the soldiers. “do what you have trained and train what you will do”. The implementation of article 47 GC I is related to article 82 and 87 AP I. Furthermore, within Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI) it is related with the formation of “the professional soldier” as enshrined in Article 2 section (4) of the Law No. 34 of 2004 of TNI. In addition to the increased awareness, some additional achievements related to operational and training aspects were also achieved in the period of 1998 – 2015. These include the issuance of Technical Guidance on the Implementation of international humanitarian law and human rights into the Training, the three standing ROEs and the TNI Commander decree on Prohibition of Torture. These all doctrinal impact are resulting from the dissemination program that may have influence on the betterment of the TNI operations in the future. However, some further improvements are required, among others, to improve the skills of the concerned officers to draft appropriate ROEs and to complement the legal unit with an operational law / international humanitarian law section. Moreover, the challenge for Indonesia in the future is to improve its enforcement mechanisms i.e. to enhance the military justice system to be more reliable and independent in line with the spirit of article 49 GC I. Keywords: international humanitarian law, armed conflict, military academy, dissemination program, laws of war.   Abstrak Pelaksanaan Pasal 47 dalam Konvensi Genewa Pertama 1949 adalah melaksanakan aktivitas dalam format aktivitas pelatihan dan militer dibandingkan dengan melakukan seminar. Isi dari pelatihan, metodologi dan instruktur harus sesuai dengan operasi militer yang dihadapi oleh seorang prajurit, “lakukanlah apa yang telah dilatihkan kepadamu dan latihlahlah apa yang akan kamu lakukan”. Pelaksanaan pasal 47 Konvensi Genewa Pertama 1949 berkaitan dengan Pasal 82 dan 87 dari Konvensi yang sama. Lebih lanjut lagi, dalam Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI), berkaitan dengan pembentukan “prajurit profesional” seperti yang disampaikan dalam Pasal 2 ayat (4) Undang-undang No. 34 tahun 2004 mengenai TNI. Dalam rangka untuk meningkatkan kewaspadaan, beberapa capaian tambahan berkenaan dengan aspek operasional dan pelatihan juga dicapai dalam periode 1998-2015. Hal ini termasuk mengeluarkan Panduan Teknis mengenai Implementasi Hukum Humaniter Internasional dan HAM dalam pelatihan, dan tiga pilar ROEs dan keputusan Panglima TNI tentang Larangan Penyiksaan. Semua doktrin ini lahir dari dampak diseminasi dalam program pelatihan untuk melahirkan prajurit TNI yang lebih baik dimasa yang akan datang. Meskipun demikian, sejumlah peningkatan terhadap pengetahuan mengenai hukum humaniter telah tumbuh dikalangan prajutit TNI. Tantangan selanjutnya adalah mendorong peningkatan mekanisme pentaatan, misalnya mendorong sistem pengadilan militer untuk lebih indeoenden dan dapat diandalkan sejalan dengan semangat Pasal 49 Konvensi Genewa Pertama 1949. Kata kunci: hukum humaniter, konflik bersenjata, akademi militer, program diseminasi, hukum perang.


2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (882) ◽  
pp. 353-384 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Bangerter

AbstractThe decision to respect the law – or not – is far from automatic, regardless of whether it is taken by an armed group or a state. Respect for international humanitarian law (IHL) can only be encouraged, and hence improved, if the reasons used by armed groups to justify respect or lack of it are understood and if the arguments in favour of respect take those reasons into account. Among the reasons for respecting the law, two considerations weigh particularly heavily for armed groups: their self-image and the military advantage. Among the reasons for non-respect, three are uppermost: the group's objective, the military advantage, and what IHL represents according to the group.


2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (911) ◽  
pp. 551-573
Author(s):  
Ahmed Al-Dawoody ◽  
Vanessa Murphy

AbstractThis paper compares how rules of international humanitarian law and rules of Islamic law protect children in armed conflict. It examines areas of convergence and divergence, and areas where there is room for clarification between these two legal systems. This comparative exercise spotlights four key topics marking the wartime experience of children: the unlawful recruitment and use of children by armed forces and armed groups, the detention of children, their access to education, and the situation of children separated from their families.


Author(s):  
Tilman Rodenhäuser

This book identifies the degree of organization required from non-state armed groups (i) to become party to an armed conflict and thereby bound by applicable international humanitarian law; (ii) to have possible human rights obligations; and (iii) to create a context in which international crimes can be committed. Part I identifies three principal criteria that any party to a non-international armed conflict—including decentrally organized armed groups, transnational groups, or cyber groups—must meet: it must be a collective entity with sufficient capabilities to engage in hostilities and the ability to ensure respect for basic humanitarian norms. Part II conceptualizes contemporary debate and international practice on the question of whether armed groups have human rights obligations. It suggests that the sources and scope of potential human rights obligations of armed groups are understood best on a spectrum, with consideration given to three categories: groups exercising quasi-governmental authority; groups exercising de facto control over territory and population; and groups exercising no territorial control. Part III examines the requisite degree of organization of armed groups to create contexts in which crimes against humanity or genocide can be committed. It argues that the degree of power and organization of groups behind these crimes depends on whether the group instigates or actually commits the crimes. In sum, this book shows that the requisite degree of organization of armed groups to have obligations under different fields of international law cannot be determined in the abstract. It depends on the specificities of each field of law and the circumstances of each case.


Author(s):  
Amichai Cohen ◽  
Eyal Ben-Ari

This chapter describes how increased juridification and demands to apply international humanitarian law (IHL) have influenced the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The authors analyze the IDF’s compliance with IHL and other legal frameworks through a multilevel and multidimensional model of military compliance describing the law and external institutions involved in applying it. The past decades have seen the relatively autonomous sphere of the military increasingly come under judicial overview. Judicial and international pressures have also increased the role of the operational legal advisors. The chapter ends by discussing the ceremonies intended to promote compliance with IHL involving soldiers and junior officers. It is based on interviews (with Israeli academic experts, members of nongovernmental organizations [NGOs], and military commanders), off-the-record conversations with members of the IDF’s Military Advocate General, and newspaper articles, reports of NGOs, and secondary material.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 318-331
Author(s):  
Danielle Flanagan

In spite of the prevailing security dynamics in Yemen and Libya, both states continue to serve as areas of transit along some of the world’s largest mixed migration routes, leaving migrants caught in the crossfire of the two conflicts. This article examines the legal framework governing the protection of migrants in armed conflict under international humanitarian and human rights law. It also identifies two adverse incentives produced by the conflict situations that impede the exercise of these legal protections: (1) profits derived from migrant smuggling and trafficking, and (2) the use of migrants to support armed groups. In the absence of stable conditions in Yemen and Libya, individuals have little reason to respect international legal protections and discontinue migrant abuse connected with the lucrative businesses of smuggling and trafficking. The intractable nature of the two conflicts has also led to the strategic use of migrants as armed support, and more specifically as combatants, weapons transports, and human shields. Given these realities, the article outlines several recommendations to address the issue of migrant abuse in conflict. It recommends that states, particularly those neighboring Yemen and Libya, strengthen regular migration pathways to help reduce the number of migrants transiting through active conflict zones. It further advises that the international community increase the cost of noncompliance to international humanitarian law through the use of accountability mechanisms and through strategic measures, including grants of reciprocal respect to armed groups that observe protections accorded to migrants in conflict situations.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-27
Author(s):  
Thibaut Moulin

The emergence of new technologies might challenge our assumptions about biomedical research: medical progress may not only cure but enhance human capacities. In particular, the emergence of brain-machine interfaces will admittedly allow disabled people to move or communicate again, but also has various military applications, such as remote control of drones and avatars. Although there is no express legal framework pertaining to the experimental phase of human enhancement techniques, they are actually constrained by international law. According to international humanitarian law, civilians and prisoners of war may be subjected to experiments only when required by their state of health or for medical treatment. According to international human rights law, experimentations are permissible when they meet two conditions: (i) free consent, and (ii) proportionality (that is, the adequacy of risk and benefit). In light of these conditions, this article assesses the situations in which experimentation involving brain-computer interfaces would be lawful. It also gives specific attention to those experimentations carried out on members of the armed forces. In fact, owing to the military hierarchy and the unique nature of its mission (to protect national security at the risk of their own lives), it is necessary to determine how the military may comply with this legal framework.


Author(s):  
Yutaka Arai-Takahashi

Abstract The requirement of organization is supposed to be of special importance in international humanitarian law (IHL). In the situation of international armed conflict (IAC), this requirement is implicit as part of the collective conditions to be fulfilled by irregular/independent armed groups to enable their members to claim the prisoners of war status under Article 4 A(2) of the Third Geneva Convention. In a non-international armed conflict (NIAC), the eponymous requirement serves, alongside the requirement of intensity of violence, as the threshold condition for ascertaining the onset of a NIAC. While the requirement of organization has not caused much of disputes in IACs, the international criminal tribunals have shown a willingness to examine scrupulously if armed groups in NIACs are sufficiently organized. Still, this article argues that there is need for a nuanced assessment of the organizational level of an armed group in some specific phases of the ongoing armed conflict whose legal character switches (from an NIAC to an IAC, vice-versa, and from a NIAC to a law-enforcement model). It explores what rationales and argumentative model may be adduced to explain such varying standards for organization in different contexts.


1978 ◽  
Vol 18 (206) ◽  
pp. 274-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Sandoz

The events in Lebanon and the despatch of a UN armed force to keep the peace there brings into focus a problem which cannot be ignored, the application of international humanitarian law in armed conflicts. This problem has two aspects:— What is the nature of the armed forces which the UN commits or can commit at the present time?— To what extent are these armed forces obliged to apply humanitarian law?


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