scholarly journals The Protection of Access to Food for Civilians under International Humanitarian Law: Acts Constituting War Crimes

2020 ◽  
pp. 181-209
Author(s):  
Adriana Fillol Mazo

The objective of this paper is to examine the specific provisions, within the framework of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), that protect the human right to food of the civilian population and to observe to what extent the protection of access to food is an issue taken into account by IHL during the development of an armed conflict. Answering these questions requires a detailed analysis of this branch of international law, in order to identify the specific rules of IHL that aim, directly or indirectly, to ensure that civilians do not see denied their access to food during the armed conflict, whether international or non-international.  In many armed conflicts, a greater number of civilians die from food deprivation than as a direct result of hostilities. In this sense, the Statute of the International Criminal Court criminalizes those acts that, during the armed conflict, violate IHL prohibitions related to food issues, thus we will also mention them, with the aim of clarifying the possible individual criminal responsibility attributed to those who carry out such acts. The scientific method that has been used in this work is the legal-sociological method, insofar as it is the one that we consider most appropriate for the multidisciplinary approach, always from the legal point of view, regarding the understanding of the rules, the lack of them, their effectiveness, their rationale, etc.  This method is based on the idea that law cannot be studied as an isolated domain but must be analysed as part of social reality. The elaboration of this work, with a multidisciplinary object, has also required the use of several methodological techniques, such as social and legal analysis, legal deduction and induction, description and interdisciplinarity.

2000 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 395-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heike Spieker

Non-international armed conflicts are more numerous, more brutal and entail more blood-shed today than international ones. The Statute of the International Criminal Court explicitly upholds the traditional distinction between international and non-international conflicts, and armed conflicts will have to be characterized accordingly. But the tendency to adapt the international humanitarian law (IHL) regime for non-international conflicts to the rules for international ones emerges. Article 7 on Crimes Against Humanity and Article 8(2)(c) and (e) on War Crimes amount to real progress in this respect. Yet, the regulation on war crimes in particular does not provide for comprehensive criminal responsibility of individual perpetrators in non-international conflicts.


Social Law ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 94-98
Author(s):  
G. Gabrelyan

It has been proved that since the beginning of Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine the problems of international humanitarian law, in particular the protection of medical personnel in the context of armed conflict, have become particularly relevant. It is determined that, through its peaceful policy, Ukraine is not ready for armed aggression. The provisions of international normative legal acts regulating the protection of medical personnel and medical facilities during armed conflicts of international and international character are examined. The basics of implementation of the provisions of international humanitarian law by national legislation and peculiarities of criminal responsibility for violations and crimes against physicians in the area of ​​armed conflict are investigated.


Author(s):  
Mykhaylo Buromenskiy ◽  
Vitalii Gutnyk

The article addresses the qualification problems of armed conflicts. The study was conducted through the analysis of international legal doctrine, international treaties, decisions of international organizations. Attention is paid to the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Court. It is noted that International Humanitarian Law has been in place since the beginning of the armed conflict. Therefore, the application of International Humanitarian Law does not require any recognition of the existence of armed conflict (international or non-international); this conflict exists because of armed clashes. It is emphasized that the need to classify the conflict arises in view of domestic and international legal factors (to bring to international criminal justice those who have committed war crimes; state responsibility for internationally wrongful acts, etc.). Attention was paid to the non-existence of a single body, which was empowered to determine the existence of an armed conflict. Different international agencies may have different qualifications for the same armed conflict. It is concluded that it is necessary to establish a Committee of Experts under the UN Secretary-General, to avoid different qualifications from the same armed conflict.


Author(s):  
M. Medvedieva ◽  
H. Habrelian

It has been proved that since the beginning of the Russian aggression in the east of Ukraine the problems of international humanitarian law, in particular the protection of medical personnel in the context of armed conflict, have become particularly relevant. It is determined that, through its peaceful policy, Ukraine is not ready for armed aggression. The provisions of international normative legal acts regulating the protection of medical personnel and medical facilities during armed conflicts of international and non-international character are examined. The basics of implementation of the provisions of international humanitarian law by national legislation and peculiarities of criminal responsibility for violations and crimes against physicians in the area of armed conflict are investigated.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 30
Author(s):  
Mahmood Khalil Jaffar

         At a time when non-international armed conflicts increase, the importance of studying the application of international humanitarian law in these disputes increases. Criminal responsibility and the consequent effects of violations of international humanitarian law are considered a way prescribed by the law to ensure respect in international armed conflicts and its applicability has been proven.            Jurisprudence and judicial decisions issued by criminal courts confirm possibility of strengthening individual criminal responsibility for violations of international humanitarian law applicable in non-international armed conflicts despite the fact that the international humanitarian law applicable to non-international armed conflicts does not contain mechanisms from which international criminal responsibility of those accused of committing violations arise.


2015 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 281-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rogier Bartels

Impeding humanitarian access and the starving of civilians is prohibited under international humanitarian law in times of both international and non-international armed conflicts. Such conduct is criminalised under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC Statute) when committed during an international armed conflict. However, without good reason, it is not a war crime when committed during a non-international armed conflict. Contemporary conflicts, such as that in Syria, show that this is a problematic omission. This article addresses the challenges in prosecuting the denial of humanitarian access during international armed conflicts and examines the options to prosecute before the International Criminal Court such denial in times of non-international armed conflict as other war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The author concludes that these options would not suffice and proposes to add to the ICC Statute the starvation of the civilian population, including through impeding humanitarian access, as a war crime for non-international armed conflicts.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 184-188
Author(s):  
Sabin Guțan

Abstract The issue of the existence of the internal armed conflict concerns both legal factors and political factors (recognition of the existence of the internal armed conflict). From a legal point of view, to declare a violent social phenomenon as internal armed conflict, we must resort to the specific rules of international humanitarian law: Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Article 1 of the First Additional Protocol to these conventions of 1977. However, these regulations, while describing the general parameters of the existence of an internal armed conflict, do not establish clear legal criteria for delimiting the internal armed conflict of internal tensions and disturbances or other forms of non-armed conflicts. This regulatory shortcoming has led to the emergence in the jurisprudence of some states, but also in the international one, of criteria for the existence of the internal armed conflict


2021 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 20-26
Author(s):  
Oleksandra Severinova ◽  

The article analyzes the theoretical and methodological aspects of the formation and development of doctrinal ideas about the meaning of the concept of «armed conflict» in the history of world political and legal thought. The question of the name of the branch of law that regulates armed conflict, by analyzing its historical names such as «law of war», «laws and customs of war», «law of armed conflict», «international humanitarian law» and «international humanitarian law, used in armed conflicts». As a result of this analysis, it can be concluded that it would be most appropriate to use the terms «international humanitarian law» only in a narrow sense or «international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts», which is more cumbersome but most accurately describes the field. It is emphasized that due to the availability of new powerful weapons (economic, political, informational, cultural and weapons of mass destruction), which are dangerous both for the aggressor and for the whole world; the aggressor's desire to downplay its role in resolving conflicts in order to avoid sanctions from other countries and international organizations, as well as to prevent the loss of its authority and position on the world stage; the attempts of the aggressor countries to establish their control over the objects of aggression (including integrating them into their political, economic and security systems) without excessive damage to them is the transformation of methods and means of warfare. It is determined that the long history of the formation of the law of armed conflict has led to the adoption at the level of international law of the provision prohibiting any armed aggression in the world, which is reflected in such a principle as non-use of force or threat of force. At the same time, the UN Charter became the first international act in the history of mankind, which completely prohibited armed aggression and enshrined this principle at the international level, which is binding on all states of the modern world.


Author(s):  
L. C. Green

The second session of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable to Armed Conflicts met in Geneva from February 3 until April 18, 1975. The purpose of this session of the Conference was the adoption — or perhaps more correctly the successful drafting — of two Protocols to be added to the Geneva Red Cross Conventions of 1949, in order to protect further the victims of international and non-international conflicts respectively; it was also to consider proposals directed to the humanization of methods of warfare, including the prohibition or restriction of conventional weapons considered to be purely indiscriminate or likely to cause an amount of suffering disproportionate to the purpose of the armed conflict.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 252-260
Author(s):  
Bartłomiej Krzan

Abstract The present study analyses climate change from the perspective of the law of armed conflict. Climate may be both a victim and a means of warfare. Arguably, the existing normative framework is broad enough to allow for accommodating climate change. It cannot be denied that the environment is easily harmed, or at least jeopardized in times of armed conflicts. Despite the obvious lack of explicit references in the instruments of international humanitarian law, it may be argued that it is possible to fit climate change in. The accompanying analysis addresses the respective potential and the ensuing hurdles.


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