scholarly journals Humanitarian Access in conditions Armed Conflict: The International Legal Aspect

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-30
Author(s):  
Marina Rylskaya
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Current System ◽  
Legal Aspect ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Peace And Security

The article reveals a number of legal issues related to humanitarian assistance; some of them are being regulated from the point of view of International Humanitarian Law. It is also stressed that the current system of international relations is not always capable of maintaining peace and security, which leads to the shift of the international community's efforts from the level of forceful resolution of conflicts to the format of humanitarian Cooperation.

International Humanitarian Law and Non-State Actors: A Contradiction of Terms?

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-430
Author(s):  
Roberta Arnold
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
State Actors

There seems to have been a shift in the state-centric vision of international relations, following the increasing role of non-state actors (NSAs) on the international scene, particularly in the context of armed conflicts. Ezequiel Heffes, Marcos Kotlik and Manuel Ventura, editors of International Humanitarian Law and Non-State Actors, present through this collection of contributions an overview of legal issues arising from this new reality. The editors draw on their personal experience to explain how NSAs contribute to the development of international humanitarian law (IHL) and to suggest that in order to promote respect for IHL by all parties involved in an armed conflict, this new role should be given due consideration from a legal standpoint. The review aims to confront critically the position taken in the volume, assessing the pros and cons of an increased recognition (and potential legitimisation) of NSAs, with a particular focus on non-state armed groups. It discusses, in particular, the implications of this process for the exercise of sovereign rights and respect for fundamental guarantees, especially in relation to the powers to detain and to adjudicate.

Applying Additional Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions to the United Nations Forces

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 234-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artem Sergeev
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The Third ◽  
Additional Protocol ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Hostile Environments

Following the widespread participation of United Nations (UN) forces in hostile environments, this article aims to expand the obligations of the UN under International Humanitarian Law. The article argues that Additional Protocol II (AP II) to the Geneva Conventions can bind UN forces, even though the UN is not formally a party thereto. The argument is built on three distinct legal issues: the first issue is whether the UN’s involvement in a conflict internationalizes a non-international armed conflict; the second issue is the legal nature of the UN’s obligations under AP II, which will be explained through two legal theories of indirect consent; and the third issue is the conformity of UN forces to the criteria of an armed group outlined in AP II. The article concludes that if UN forces meet certain conditions, as will be outlined herein, they should be bound by the provisions contained in AP II.

scholarly journals Do attackers have a legal duty of care? Limits to the ‘individualization of war’

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janina Dill
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Duty Of Care ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Moral Value ◽  
Legal Situation ◽  
Legal Duty ◽  
The Individual

AbstractDoes International Humanitarian Law (IHL) impose a duty of care on the attacker? From a moral point of view, should it? This article argues that the legal situation is contestable, and the moral value of a legal duty of care in attack is ambivalent. This is because a duty of care is both a condition for and an obstacle to the ‘individualization of war’. The individualization of war denotes an observable multi-dimensional norm shift in international relations. Norms for the regulation of war that focus on the interests, rights, and duties of the individual have gained in importance compared to those that focus on the interests, rights, and duties of the state. As the individual, not the state, is the ultimate locus of moral value, this norm shift in international relations, and the corresponding developments in international law, are morally desirable. When it comes to IHL, the goal of protecting the interests of the individual creates strong reasons both for and against imposing a legal duty of care on the attacker. The enquiry into whether IHL does and should impose a legal duty of care therefore reveals that the extent to which war can be individualized is limited.

Jus in Bello and the Acts of Terrorism

2020 ◽  
pp. 1363-1378
Author(s):  
Mohammad Saidul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Jus In Bello ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Conceptual Reasoning ◽  
Terrorist Groups

Terrorism is a big threat to international peace and security. The rapid and substantial development of terrorist groups across the globe has highly complicated the application and implementation of the international humanitarian law. People have been facing this heinous violent act from time immemorial, but recently it has increased enormously. This study presents the legal and conceptual reasoning and justifications of the act of terrorism as an armed conflict. It also examines whether it is an international armed conflict or non-international armed conflict where the international humanitarian law can be applied.

The Involvement of the Security Council in Maintaining International Humanitarian Law

1994 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Th.A. van Baarda
Keyword(s):  
Security Council ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
The Other ◽  
Clear Distinction ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Relief ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
The One

In this article the author discusses the growing involvement of the Security Council in humanitarian protection and assistance in armed conflict. Given the fact that the Security Council is apolitical body par excellence, its involvement in the humanitarian relief effort may prejudice the neutrality and independence of the latter. He finds himself in agreement with the ICRC, which has proposed that the UN should make a clear distinction between encouraging respect for humanitarian law on the one hand, and the effort to maintain international peace and security on the other.

Legal Issues in the “War on Terrorism” – Reflecting on the Conversation Between Silja N.U. Voneky and John Bellinger

2008 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 711-736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabor Rona
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Al Qaeda ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
War On Terrorism ◽  
Prisoner Of War ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The U.S

It is an irony of our times. The 9/11 attacks catapulted international humanitarian law (IHL) – otherwise known as the “laws of war” or the “law of armed conflict” – into popular conversation as never before. Who ever heard of Common Article 3 before the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan? Can anyone recall arguing about the criteria for prisoner of war status before the Taliban and al Qaeda? Was anyone parsing the difference between civilian trials, courts martial and military commissions before Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo?

14 Humanitarian Relief Operations

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Massingham Eve ◽  
Thynne Kelisiana
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Humanitarian Relief ◽  
Armed Group ◽  
Primary Responsibility ◽  
Main Tenet ◽  
Relief Operations

This chapter examines humanitarian relief operations in armed conflict. The main tenet of international humanitarian law (IHL) is that human suffering should be limited, even in an environment where causing death and injury is, to a certain extent, legitimate. In amongst the violence and death that characterizes armed conflict in all its forms, humanitarian relief operations seek to assuage the suffering by providing protection and assistance to persons who are affected by the armed conflict. Humanitarian relief actors not only promote IHL to the parties to a conflict, but they also provide protection and assistance to victims of a conflict. States have the primary responsibility to provide humanitarian assistance to their citizens, to provide them with protection, and to respect and ensure respect for IHL. Non-state armed groups engaged in armed conflict also have a responsibility to uphold IHL and provide assistance to people in the territory which they control. However, where the state or armed group is not able to provide such assistance, humanitarian relief actors and organizations can fill the gap. Therefore, like combatants, civilians, and other protected persons, humanitarian relief personnel have specific protections, obligations, and requirements under IHL.

Territorial Control by Armed Groups and the Regulation of Access to Humanitarian Assistance

2017 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom Gal
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Humanitarian Relief ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
Relief Operations

Humanitarian assistance is essential for the survival of the civilian population and peoplehors de combatin the theatre of war. Its regulation under the laws of armed conflict tries to achieve a balance between humanitarian goals and state sovereignty. This balance, reflected in the provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, is not as relevant to contemporary armed conflicts, most of which involve non-state armed groups. Even those provisions relating to humanitarian assistance in conflicts involving non-state armed groups fail to address properly the key features of these groups, and especially their territorial aspect. This article proposes a different approach, which takes into consideration and gives weight to the control exercised by non-state armed groups over a given territory. Accordingly, it is suggested that provisions regulating humanitarian relief operations in occupied territories should apply to territories controlled by armed groups. This approach views international humanitarian law first and foremost as an effective, realistic and practical branch of law. Moreover, it has tremendous humanitarian advantages and reflects the aims and purposes of the law, while considering the factual framework of these conflicts.

Humanitarian action: A delicate balancing act

1987 ◽  
Vol 27 (260) ◽  
pp. 485-500 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Short Article ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Treaty Law ◽  
Occupied Territories ◽  
The Right

Increasingly a number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) appear to be demanding the right to provide humanitarian assistance and at the same time the right to denounce any violations of human rights. Whereas these are fine and understandable aspirations, they do not coincide with accepted principles of relief law and practice. This short article will explore certain aspects of this subject, primarily in relation to the treaty law applicable to circumstances of armed conflict and in occupied territories (International Humanitarian Law).

scholarly journals Issues of the theory of international humanitarian law in the context of integration and globalization

Legal Ukraine ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 36-43
Author(s):  
Viktor Bazov
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
The Law ◽  
Further Development

The article discusses topical issues of the formation and further development of the theory of international humanitarian law. Explored the basic concepts of this area of humanitarian public law. For the first time, international humanitarian law is defined as a set of conventional and customary international legal norms that govern the law of armed conflict and human rights law. The processes of globalization of modern international relations, characterized by increasing influence of leading international organizations and crises in individual states, objectively affect the renewal and further development of the theory of international humanitarian law as one of the rapidly developing branches of public international law. New conceptual approaches to the modern definition of international humanitarian law, its philosophy and legal nature require a rethinking of scientific views as classics of international law, including the founder of the theory of natural law and modern science of international law Hugo Grotius, researcher of state interests in «just war» Thomas Hobbes and the founder of the «social contract», the sentimentalist Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and the views of such prominent scholars as Immanuel Kant, Fedor Martens and Jean Pictet. Given the normative definition, «the law of armed conflict» and «the law of human rights» are two independent legal systems within the framework of international humanitarian law, which operate mainly in different periods: during armed conflicts or in peacetime, respectively. These legal systems, although closely interlinked within the framework of international humanitarian law, are still independent and relatively independent of each other, as they have features in the sources and mechanisms of implementation and control over compliance with their norms and principles. Key words: theory of international humanitarian law, international relations, state, international organization, international court.

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