scholarly journals THE INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW APPLICABLE IN THE NEW TYPES OF ARMED CONFLICTS

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 184-193
Author(s):  
Nicolae David Ungureanu
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
Second World

The international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts has evolved continuously since antiquity until today, its doctrinal writings pointing out during the modern period the influence that the progress of the concepts and the practices of war has had on the development of the normative conventions, especially the first and second world war, resulting in texts that are applicable even today.

International criminal jurisdiction, international humanitarian law and humanitarian action

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (321) ◽  
pp. 623-634
Author(s):  
Jacques Stroun
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Second World

Shortly after the Second World War the community of States, still shocked by the explosion of violence that had torn the world apart for more than five years, ratified an updated version of the Geneva Conventions in the hope of acquiring a sound legal instrument which would preserve human dignity even in times of war. They undertook to respect the fundamental rights of the individual in armed conflicts, whether international or otherwise, and to limit the use of force to what was strictly necessary to place an enemy hors de combat. Their resolve found confirmation in the two Additional Protocols of 1977.

Appointment

1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (102) ◽  
pp. 491-491 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
East European ◽  
Middle East Countries ◽  
Wide Experience ◽  
Second World

Mr. Raymond Courvoisier has since 1 August 1969 taken over the appointment of special assistant to the President of the International Committee, thus bringing it his wide experience in the field of international humanitarian law. It should, in fact, be recalled that from 1936 to 1945 he undertook a large number of missions in ICRC service as delegate in Spain, Turkey, in East European and Middle East countries. Furthermore, he was in charge of a section in the Central Prisoners of War Agency in Geneva during the Second World War.

Building a Case against the War Criminals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean Aszkielowicz
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Agreements ◽  
Second World War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
War Criminals ◽  
Post War ◽  
Second World

Long before the Second World War ended, the Allies were planning to prosecute Axis war criminals, including both those in positions of leadership and the perpetrators of individual crimes. There was no standing war crimes court at the end of the Second World War, however, and the post-war trials were a watershed in international law. For the trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo, Allied planners drew on the development of international humanitarian law and international agreements signed by the combatants over the decades preceding the war. The vast majority of war criminals who were prosecuted did not face the court at Nuremberg or Tokyo: they appeared before national military tribunals which were conducted according to each prosecuting country’s war crimes law. The Australian War Crimes Act passed through the parliament in October 1945, shortly before trials began.

The urgent need to apply the rules of humanitarian law to so-called internal armed conflicts

1961 ◽  
Vol 1 (5) ◽  
pp. 250-257
Author(s):  
Boško Jakovljevlć ◽  
Jovica Patrnogić
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Second World ◽  
General Condemnation ◽  
Great Victory

The 12th of August 1949 is without doubt one of the most important dates in humanitarian law and in the development of the idea of the protection of man. It was then that four new Conventions were adopted in Geneva relative to the protection of victims of armed conflicts. In so far as they express general condemnation of war crimes committed during the Second World War, as well as the determination to prevent their recurrence in any possible sort of future conflict, the Geneva Conventions must be regarded as a bastion for the protection of all victims of armed conflict as well as a serious warning to all those who might be disposed to make a misuse of force or violate humanitarian principles. This great victory of the humanitarian spirit and of the principles which it inspires, by virtue of which one should not only avoid inflicting suffering on those who are deprived of protection or on non-combatants, but one should also accord them assistance and care for them if necessary, is due to a large extent to the Red Cross. The forces of progress have given their support to this idea and have made possible its realization within the framework of the International Conventions of the Red Cross. The new Geneva Conventions, which in the evolution of humanitarian law at present represent a decisive phase in a given sector, constitute an extremely solid and complete legal code which has been meticulously drawn up and which is both logical and coherent.

Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law — Alike yet Distinct

1993 ◽  
Vol 33 (293) ◽  
pp. 89-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Meurant
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Common Goal ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Second World

International humanitarian law and human rights law share a common goal, namely to protect the individual and to ensure respect for human dignity. Yet these two branches of international public law each have their own characteristics and origins and have evolved in different ways.Nevertheless, the troubled aftermath of the Second World War, the unchecked rise of violence and poverty in recent decades and the resulting need for improved protection of the ever-growing number of victims of violations of fundamental human rights have all contributed not only to the evolution of the two branches of law but also to their convergence, like “two poor crutches on which disarmed victims can lean simultaneously”, to quote an expressive image by Karel Vasak. This expert went so far as to estimate in 1984 that “the convergence of the two branches has led to an overlapping both on paper and, increasingly, in practice as well”.

Protection of Children in International Humanitarian Law

1984 ◽  
Vol 24 (240) ◽  
pp. 140-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Plattner
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Civilian Population ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
War Experience ◽  
Second World

The legal protection of children was introduced into international humanitarian law after the Second World War. Experience during that conflict had, in fact, pointed to the urgent need to draw up an instrument of public international law for protecting civilian population in wartime. The results of the ICRC's efforts in this field led to the adoption of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war. From that time on, children, as members of the civilian population, were entitled to benefit from the application of that Convention. Moreover, the first international humanitarian law regulations concerning armed conflicts not of an international character, contained in article 3, common to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions, were drawn up at the 1949 Diplomatic Conference. Here again, children were protected, in the same way as all “persons taking no active part in the hostilities”.

The Legal Personality of Individuals in International Humanitarian Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
International Legal Personality ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Second World

Chapter 5 first assesses the extent to which the law of international armed conflict engages individuals directly and the impact of the different conceptions of international legal personality on the formation and application of the relevant treaty norms. Sections 5.1 and 5.2 study both provisions that do regulate the conduct of individuals directly, and provisions where such direct regulation was discussed but ultimately discarded in favour of an inter-State model. Turning to non-international armed conflict, Section 5.3 outlines the development of the doctrine of ‘recognition of belligerency’ between the late eighteenth century and the Second World War. Subsequently, Section 5.4 examines the role of the concept of international legal personality in the post-Second World War formation of treaty norms governing non-international armed conflicts. The chapter ends with a discussion of the diverging jurisprudential explanations in the current academic debate for the bindingness of international law on armed opposition groups.

scholarly journals The Humanitarian Aid of the Joint Relief Commission of the International Red Cross in France to the civil population: children, women and internees (1940-1946)

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 022
Author(s):  
Luiza Iordache Cârstea
Keyword(s):  
Human Life ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Charitable Organizations ◽  
Second World

The objective of this article is the analysis of the humanitarian relief work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the League of the Red Cross Societies through a joint body, the Joint Relief Committee (JRC), in France during the Second World War. Based on the treaties, convention and draft projects that shed light on the evolution and consolidation of the International Humanitarian Law relating to civilian defence and on the specialized bibliography, reports of the ICRC and the JRC, documentary sources of the ICRC Archives, and photo library of the same organization, the article focuses on humanitarian aid and priorities of the JRC in favour of the civilian population most vulnerable to and affected by war: children, women and internees in the concentration camps in South of France. This study, accompanied by photos, maps and quantitative data, sheds light on the channels of humanitarian action, the charitable organizations, associations, institutions, foundations, etc., that made this possible, as well as the loopholes and limitations of international humanitarian law, with important consequences for human life during a major conflict such as the Second World War.

scholarly journals LEGAL FLOWS: CONTRIBUTIONS OF EXILED LAWYERS TO THE CONCEPT OF “CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY” DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 507-525
Author(s):  
KERSTIN VON LINGEN
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual History ◽  
Strong Support ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Crimes Against Humanity ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
Constitutive Function ◽  
Second World

This article addresses the normative framework of the concept of “crimes against humanity” from the perspective of intellectual history, by scrutinizing legal debates of marginalized (and exiled) academic–juridical actors within the United Nations War Crimes Commission (UNWCC). Decisive for its successful implementation were two factors: the growing scale of mass violence against civilians during the Second World War, and the strong support and advocacy of “peripheral actors,” jurists forced into exile in London by the war. These jurists included representatives of smaller Allied countries from around the world, who used the commission's work to push for a codification of international law, which finally materialized during the London Conference of August 1945. This article studies the process of mediation and the emergence of legal concepts. It thereby introduces the concept of “legal flows” to highlight the different strands and older traditions of humanitarian law involved in coining new law. The experience of exile is shown to have had a significant constitutive function in the globalization of a concept (that of “crimes against humanity”).

The Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice on the legality of nuclear weapons

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (316) ◽  
pp. 56-64
Author(s):  
Hisakazu Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Second World War ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Advisory Opinion ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Court Of Justice ◽  
Fundamental Interest ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
International Court ◽  
Second World

The Advisory Opinion handed down by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 8 July 1996 concerning the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons contains many elements that are of fundamental interest from the standpoint of international humanitarian law. Indeed, humanitarian law, which has developed to a remarkable extent since the Second World War, has always lacked an express ruling on nuclear weapons.

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