The Protection of Environment during Armed Conflict: A Case Study of International Humanitarian Law (the Case of Fallujah)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asif Khan ◽  
Maseeh Ullah
2006 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 394-417 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.J.C. Schimmelpenninck van der Oije

AbstractWhat is it like to be working in the field with international humanitarian law during an armed conflict? In the article ‘International Humanitarian Law from a field perspective - case study: Nepal‘, the promotion of international humanitarian law is described through the eyes of a humanitarian aid worker. The author worked as a delegate for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) during the civil war in Nepal. International humanitarian law forms the legal basis of the ICRC's presence in Nepal, it's humanitarian activities and confidential interventions. Nepal and its conflict are introduced, as well as the warring parties and the Red Cross in Nepal. Various humanitarian activities and dilemma's are described. Through this article the YIHL seeks to link theory and practice, and focus on international humanitarian law from an operational perspective.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (02) ◽  
pp. 29-46
Author(s):  
Muhammad Tariq Ramzan ◽  
Amir Hayat ◽  
Hafiza Sumera Rabia

Afghanistan remained an arena for international powers for the last two centuries. The climax period of the militant activities in this soil was from September 2001 to August 2021. Millions of human entities took part in this escalation and a large number of human fabric became captive by the detaining powers during this period. At the end of the armed climax, the emerging political & military coalition on this soil declared its stance about the method of governance after 15 August 2021 which would be based upon Islamic resources. In the perspective of this armed conflict, the question of prisoner’s immunity and termination of captivity in war attracted the attention of global powers. What options be available to prisoners of war about termination of war captivity under Islamic International Humanitarian Law (IIHL) and Conventional International Humanitarian Law (CIHL), is the mainstay of this paper. To answer the question, Islamic jurisprudence provides five methods to dissolve the detention and captivity in war. These methods are respectively freedom gratis, ransom, exchange of prisoners of war, execution, and enslavement. According to Islamic military guidance, freedom gratis remains the general practice in entire Islamic military history. Contrary to it, Ransom and exchange of prisoners of war were occasionally utilized and not the general practice in the entire military history of Islam. The execution and enslavement were pre-Islamic methods and practices. A set of Islamic injunctions were revealed to reform them (Execution & Enslavement) and hence they have been invoked as the source of reference in Islamic prudential literature. Along with, principles of conventional international humanitarian law are also associated with this discourse. Under these facts, this paper is a strenuous effort to embark on the solution of the matter which would be acceptable to all stakeholders regarding Afghanistan. 


2013 ◽  
pp. 129-140
Author(s):  
Anita Yadav ◽  
Amit Yadav

Prior to 1949, a consensual regime on internal armed conflict was nonexistent. The urgency to regulate the conducts of parties in an internal armed conflict was realized in the wake of World War II. The evolving war patterns direly necessitated regulation of massive violations of both humanitarian law and human right norms that are corollary to each other. This article attempts to sketch the application of international humanitarian law governing internal armed conflict in the context of India with reference various approaches at national and international level. It also highlights the fact that India is yet to recognize protocol II of the Geneva Convention and the concerns such has attracted. Further, the article also attempts to venture into the grey area of determining the threshold of internal armed conflict.


2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 141-164
Author(s):  
Mahfud Abdullah

International Humanitarian Law (HHI) has regulated provisions regarding the protection of medical personnel in a conflict, whether an international, non-international armed conflict or an internationalized armed conflict. These categories of various types of armed conflict are also part of the legality of the emergence of humanitarian intervention by medical personnel in an armed conflict. A form of medical care for parties who are either directly or indirectly involved in an armed conflict. In the Indonesian context, the provisions regulating separately the protection of medical personnel in armed conflict have not been regulated separately. However, considering that Indonesia has ratified the 1949 Geneva Convention, the convention can be considered as the official Indonesian national regulation on the protection of medical personnel in armed conflict. In this article, it is demonstrated that there were still many violations, especially against the purpose of war, which made medical officers and medical buildings in an armed conflict a military target, such as in the Syrian conflict, as well as domestic Indonesia such as Aceh and Papua. Several factors have led to the fall of medical personnel in various armed conflicts (both horizontal and vertical) in Indonesia, among others are: (a) The parties to an armed conflict are not aware of the provisions of the principles of international humanitarian law. (b) The parties are suspicious of the neutrality of the medical personnel, as well as (c) Not having a good communication system between the conflicting parties and medical personnel.


Author(s):  
Tilman Rodenhäuser

Analysing the development of the concept of non-state parties to an armed conflict from the writings of philosophers in the eighteenth century through international humanitarian law (IHL) treaty law to contemporary practice, three threads can be identified. First, as pointed out by Rousseau almost two and a half centuries ago, one basic principle underlying the laws of war is that war is not a relation between men but between entities. Accordingly, the lawful objective of parties cannot be to harm opponents as individuals but only to overcome the entity for which the individual fights. This necessitates that any party to an armed conflict is a collective, organized entity and not a loosely connected group of individuals. Second, de Vattel already stressed that civil war is fought between two parties who ‘acknowledge no common judge’ and have no ‘common superior’ on earth....


2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-79
Author(s):  
Emma J Marchant

Abstract The targeting protocols applied by forces during armed conflict are some of the most secretive documents held by any military. However, their role in applying principles of international humanitarian law (IHL) means that they are key to understanding their development. This piece is primarily concerned with practical and operational application of the precautionary principle under IHL; how much knowledge is sufficient to carry out an attack lawfully during modern armed conflict. In order to establish if a standard has developed with the increase in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technology, this piece uses the framework of an investigation into an incident in Kunduz, Afghanistan in 2009. I explore the difficulties of obtaining information post-incident, the differential standards expected by North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Bundesgerichtshof (German Federal Court of Justice), and the manner in which these can be evaluated through the principles of proportionality, distinction and precautions in attack. The piece looks at the interrelated issues raised by the Rules of Engagement and Tactical Directives, as well as the problems surrounding the clarity of intelligence available. I argue that this case is demonstrative of the failings inherent in the application and practical use of the precautionary principle outlined by IHL. The lack of transparency afforded in, and after, incidents of this nature prevents objective analysis and so the development of IHL can be obfuscated. I conclude that the lack of information following incidents of this kind confuses any intelligence standard that exists under IHL.


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.


2018 ◽  
Vol 100 (907-909) ◽  
pp. 237-265
Author(s):  
Alon Margalit

AbstractThis article draws attention to the situation of LGBT persons during armed conflict. Subjected to violence and discrimination outside the context of armed conflict, the latter aggravates their vulnerability and exposure to various abuses. Despite important progress made with respect to their protection under human rights law, a similar effort is largely absent from the international humanitarian law discourse. This article accordingly highlights some of the norms and challenges pertaining to the protection of LGBT persons in time of war.


2010 ◽  
Vol 92 (879) ◽  
pp. 569-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Bothe ◽  
Carl Bruch ◽  
Jordan Diamond ◽  
David Jensen

AbstractThere are three key deficiencies in the existing body of international humanitarian law (IHL) relating to protection of the environment during armed conflict. First, the definition of impermissible environmental damage is both too restrictive and unclear; second, there are legal uncertainties regarding the protection of elements of the environment as civilian objects; and third, the application of the principle of proportionality where harm to the environment constitutes ‘collateral damage’ is also problematic. These gaps present specific opportunities for clarifying and developing the existing framework. One approach to addressing some of the inadequacies of IHL could be application of international environmental law during armed conflict. The detailed norms, standards, approaches, and mechanisms found in international environmental law might also help to clarify and extend basic principles of IHL to prevent, address, or assess liability for environmental damage incurred during armed conflict.


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