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.

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.

Rebel Groups, International Humanitarian Law, and Civil War Outcomes in the Post-Cold War Era

2020 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-559
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Stanton
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Intergovernmental Organizations ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Rebel Groups ◽  
The Face ◽  
Rebel Group ◽  
The Government ◽  
Conflict Outcomes

AbstractDo rebel group violations of international humanitarian law during civil war—in particular, attacks on noncombatant civilians—affect conflict outcomes? I argue that in the post-Cold War era, rebel groups that do not target civilians have used the framework of international humanitarian law to appeal for diplomatic support from Western governments and intergovernmental organizations. However, rebel group appeals for international diplomatic support are most likely to be effective when the rebel group can contrast its own restraint toward civilians with the government's abuses. Rebel groups that do not target civilians in the face of government abuses, therefore, are likely to be able to translate increased international diplomatic support into more favorable conflict outcomes. Using original cross-national data on rebel group violence against civilians in all civil wars from 1989 to 2010, I show that rebel groups that exercise restraint toward civilians in the face of government violence are more likely to secure favorable conflict outcomes. I also probe the causal mechanism linking rebel group behavior to conflict outcomes, showing that when a rebel group exercises restraint toward civilians and the government commits atrocities, Western governments and intergovernmental organizations are more likely to take coercive diplomatic action against the government. The evidence shows that rebel groups can translate this increased diplomatic support into favorable political outcomes.

“Be Karbala Miravim!”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anicée Van Engeland
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
International Law ◽  
Hybrid System ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Iraq War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Domestic Law

This chapter considers the extent to which Islamic governance can integrate international humanitarian law (IHL) into its own legal system by examining the case of Iran. It addresses the consequences of the emergence of an Islamic-universal hybrid legal system. The stakes are high because IHL’s efficiency and necessity have been questioned: The existence of the Iranian hybrid system of law can be perceived as a threat by scholars arguing that international law is at risk of fragmentation due to the variety of domestic and regional approaches to fundamental legal standards. The importance of those stakes is illustrated by the Iran-Iraq War: The process of mixing a universal secular legal system with a religious domestic law occurred at a crucial time when Iran was at war with Iraq, with clear effects on the protection of civilians and the conduct of hostilities.

Everybody's War

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
War Economy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Postcolonial State ◽  
The Face ◽  
History Of

This book explores the history of health care in postcolonial state-making and the fragmentation of the health system in Syria during the conflict. It analyzes the role of international humanitarian law (IHL) in enabling attacks on health facilities and distinguishes the differences between humanitarian solutions and refugee populations’ expectations. It also describes the way in which humanitarian actors have fed the war economy. The book highlights the lived experience of siege in all its layers. It examines how humanitarian actors have become part of the information wars that have raged throughout the past ten years and how they have chosen to position themselves in the face of grave violations of IHL.

Private Military and Security Industry

2020 ◽  
pp. 23-78
Author(s):  
Seden Akcinaroglu ◽  
Elizabeth Radziszewski
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Balance Of Power ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Effectiveness ◽  
Conflict Zones ◽  
Security Industry ◽  
Conflict Zone ◽  
The Government

This chapter describes existing international, domestic, and industry-wide approaches to improving PMSCs’ accountability in conflicts. It argues that monitoring PMSCs in the conflict zone remains a challenge for weak and strong states, though the problem is less severe for the latter, and limits PMSCs’ military effectiveness. The chapter argues that local and global competition among international PMSCs has the potential to improve military effectiveness by increasing accountability and shifting the balance of power in favor of the government, the most lucrative client of international PMSCs, with positive impact on reducing war duration. The focus is on improving military effectiveness in the area of skill and corporate professionalism, specifically PMSCs’ adherence to international humanitarian law and commitment to anti-fraud practices. The chapter shows why corporate professionalism matters for military effectiveness. It then highlights initial insights about the nature of international PMSCs’ presence in conflict zones from 1990 to 2008.

Formulating Industrial Policy

2019 ◽  
Vol 250 ◽  
pp. R47-R53
Author(s):  
Tim Besley ◽  
Richard Davies
Keyword(s):  
Market Failure ◽  
Data Driven ◽  
Executive Summary ◽  
Structural Weakness ◽  
The Face ◽  
Data Driven Approach ◽  
Economic Contribution ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

Executive SummaryAlongside the challenge of maintaining economic competitiveness in the face of great uncertainty, Brexit brings an opportunity for the government to set out a new industrial strategy. The case for doing so rests on the need to address areas of persistent structural weakness in the UK economy, including low productivity. But it is important that any new industrial strategy be based on appropriately granular data reflecting the real structure of the UK corporate sector: the overwhelmingly preponderant role of services as opposed to manufacturing, for example; the importance of young, fast-growing firms as opposed to SMEs; the relatively high failure rate of companies in the UK; and the relative lack of successful mid-sized firms. Such a data-driven approach might spawn an industrial strategy quite different from the piecemeal programmes of recent years.Internationally, the UK is a laggard in this area, and the recently-created Industrial Strategy Council does not look strong enough to change that position. To move forward, the government needs to make industrial strategy a central plank of economic policy, embedded at the heart of the administration with its own staff and funding, and operations based on a comprehensive review of the economic contribution and potential of various types of firm. Needless to say, it cannot be a substitute for a continuing commitment to competition and markets, or a stalking horse for protectionism: interventions should be justified by carefully-argued market failure arguments, be time-limited, and transparently evaluated.

Appeal by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Additional Protocols of 1977

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (320) ◽  
pp. 471-472
Author(s):  
Cornelio Sommaruga
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
The Government ◽  
Preparatory Work

Twenty years ago, on 11 June 1977, the plenipotentiaries of over a hundred States and several national liberation movements signed the Final Act of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts. This Conference had been convened by the government of Switzerland, the depositary State of the Geneva Conventions. After four sessions held between 1973 and 1977, themselves preceded by several years of preparatory work, the Conference drew up two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of the victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and of noninternational armed conflicts (Protocol II).

Missions by the President

1992 ◽  
Vol 32 (289) ◽  
pp. 387-388
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Multilateral Cooperation ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
The Hague ◽  
The Government ◽  
Foreign Ministry

In the second half of May 1992, ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga went to The Hague to attend the IVth Regional Conference of European National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (18-22 May), which took as its theme “The New Europe needs The New Red Cross” (see pp. 391-393). While in The Hague, Mr. Sommaruga had talks with the Netherlands Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Cooperation Development on various current ICRC operations and on financial matters. The President thanked the government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for its substantial support for the ICRC in the past and for its commitment to providing financial help in the future. During a working meeting at the Foreign Ministry with officials dealing with various geographical regions and with multilateral cooperation, the prospects for reconvening the 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent were reviewed. The President also had the opportunity, at a lunch given by the Swiss Ambassador to the Netherlands, to talk to the President of the Second Chamber of the Netherlands Parliament and to the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about humanitarian needs around the world and the degree of respect shown for international humanitarian law. Mr. Sommaruga was accompanied by Mr. Maurice Aubert, a member of the ICRC, Mr. Yves Sandoz, Director, and Mr. Michel Convers, Deputy Director.

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