Academic literature on the topic 'Victims and actors of armed conflicts'
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Journal articles on the topic "Victims and actors of armed conflicts"
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Pfanner, Toni. "Various mechanisms and approaches for implementing international humanitarian law and protecting and assisting war victims." International Review of the Red Cross 91, no. 874 (June 2009): 279–328. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1816383109990300.
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AbstractThis article presents an overview of the various mechanisms to improve the situation of people affected by armed conflict. Some are anchored in international humanitarian law, but numerous actors are increasingly contributing to its implementation outside the original framework established for that purpose. Human rights monitoring bodies, the diverse organs and agencies of the United Nations and regional organizations, and governmental and non-governmental organizations are seeking to address situations of armed conflict. However, humanitarian action unattached to any political agenda and combining protection and assistance is often the only remedy for the plight of the victims of armed conflicts.
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GARCÍA-GODOS, JEMIMA, and KNUT ANDREAS O. LID. "Transitional Justice and Victims' Rights before the End of a Conflict: The Unusual Case of Colombia." Journal of Latin American Studies 42, no. 3 (August 2010): 487–516. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022216x10000891.
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AbstractIn a context of continuing armed conflict, a comprehensive scheme of transitional justice has been developed in Colombia since 2005 through the Law of Justice and Peace, with the aim of achieving peace with one of the armed actors in the conflict, the paramilitary groups. The clear link between the demobilisation of illegal armed groups and the rights of the victims is the main feature of the Colombian process. This article provides a systematic review of the implementation of the law, focusing on the institutions, mechanisms and procedures put in place to fulfil its goals. Emphasis is given to the legal category of ‘victim’, victims' rights and victim reparation measures. By exploring how the scheme works in principle and in practice, we are able to assess the prospects for victims' rights in Colombia today.
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Kipchirchir, Kevin. "Towards comprehensive civilian protection under Common Article 3 by addressing protection gaps in spill-over conflicts." Kabarak Law Review 2 (December 16, 2023): 37–71. http://dx.doi.org/10.58216/klr.v2i.346.
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There is a proliferation of non-international armed conflicts across the globe. Increasingly, these conflicts involve groups across two or more borders or that involve cross-border clashes. This is termed as spill-over conflict. The Middle East and Central Africa serve as salient examples to this effect. A literal reading of Common Article 3 locks out the victims of such conflicts from protected status. Common Article 3 restricts its application to non-international armed conflicts occurring in the territory of one high contracting party. The gap in protection occurs where the groups do not meet the organisational threshold in Additional Protocol II regarding the structure of the non-state actors’ organisation but are engaged in conflicts spanning more than a single territory. This paper examines the history of Common Article 3 and finds that the parties had no intention of locking out the application of Common Article 3 based on territorial considerations. Secondly, this paper looks into customary international law through state practice and jurisprudence. It finds that state practice and emerging jurisprudence recognises the fundamental principles that underpin Common Article 3. To this end, even where treaty law is inapplicable, customary international humanitarian law shall apply to provide protection to victims of spill-over non-international armed conflict. It is against this backdrop that the paper proposes that the single territory provision in Common Article 3 be amended to accommodate a more inclusive cross border reading.
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Fisentzou, Iphigenia. "Blurred Lines: Social Media in Armed Conflict." Legal Information Management 19, no. 01 (March 2019): 65–67. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s147266961900015x.
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Technological advancements have revolutionised the social interactions of global society and in turn influenced the means and methods of warfare; increasing the involvement of civilians in hostilities, not only as victims but also as participants. Together with the involvement of multiple state and non-state actors, civilian participation makes these modern conflicts all the more unpredictable, challenging inter alia the traditional notion of direct participation in hostilities established under international law.
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Đukić, Anđelija. "Human trafficing in armed conflicts." Vojno delo 72, no. 1 (2020): 41–55. http://dx.doi.org/10.5937/vojdelo2001041d.
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Armed conflicts disrupt political, legal and social peace and create an environment conducive to human trafficking, as another dimension of violence and brutality. The direct connection between these two phenomena arises from the hostility of the parties in the conflict and encompasses the areas affected by the conflict, and the indirect connection is manifested in the area outside the conflict, in refugee camps or on migration routes. The most significant influencing factors on human trafficking, in addition to those operating in peace (push and pull factors), are the weakening of state institutions and the collapse of the rule of law, population displacement, poverty, population fragmentation and family collapse. The increased scope of migration (internal and cross-border) has a significant impact on human trafficking. Unsafe living conditions and various forms of violence complicate push and pull factors, which initiate mass migrations.People on migrant routes are very vulnerable and exposed to organized criminal groups and terrorist groups, with the risk of becoming victims of human trafficking or other forms of violence. The characteristic types of exploitation in armed conflict are sexual exploitation, sexual slavery, forced labor, organ removal, and recruitment to engage in conflict, often involving children. The main actors in human trafficking are armed and criminal groups. By trafficking, armed groups carry out a profit for their own financing, strengthen military capabilities and create fear among the population to control the territory. Sexual and other violence is also used as part of broader strategies to expel undesirable groups and exploit disputed land and other resources. Trafficking in children is mainly a consequence of the economic difficulties experienced by their families. Children are usually exploited in areas of work that do not require special expertise, such as agricultural work, street sales, etc., but are also used in armed conflicts as suicide bombers or human shields. The use of children as armed fighters is widely documented in sub-Saharan and central Africa, the Middle East, and other regions of Asia. In addition to various types of violence and general suffering of the population, human trafficking in armed conflicts has a particularly negative impact on human rights violations, when the exploitation of victims can be transformed into more serious crimes. Suitable conditions for human trafficking persist after the conclusion of a formal truce or peace. The lack of the legal system's and institution's functioning results in impunity for perpetrators of criminal acts and the growth of organized crime, and thus human trafficking. The persistently high degree of disintegration, which has affected human trafficking in armed conflicts, as well as the new difficult economic circumstances, further increase the risk of human trafficking. Particularly tempting targets for traffickers are displaced persons and refugees returning from camps or war camps. Human trafficking in the post-conflict period, although mostly indirectly, is also affected by the presence of various peace and other missions, especially on trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation.
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Winter, Yves. "The asymmetric war discourse and its moral economies: a critique." International Theory 3, no. 3 (September 20, 2011): 488–514. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1752971911000145.
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Contemporary military conflicts are frequently referred to as ‘new’, ‘irregular’, or ‘asymmetric’, labels that are meant to distinguish contemporary conflict formations from previous ones. Yet the language of asymmetry is not just a conveniently vague gloss for a variety of conflicts; it also introduces a normative schema that moralizes and depoliticizes the difference between states and non-state actors. The description of contemporary conflicts as asymmetric allows states to be portrayed as victims of non-state actors, as vulnerable to strategic constellations they ostensibly cannot win. ‘Asymmetry’ is today's idiom to distinguish between civilized and uncivilized warfare, an idiom that converts ostensibly technological or strategic differences between state and non-state actors into moral and civilizational hierarchies. Furthermore, the claim that these types of conflicts are new is used to justify attempts to revisit and rewrite the international laws of armed conflicts. While such attempts are unlikely to succeed in the formal arena, informally, a transformation of the international normative order is already underway. At the heart of this transformation is how states interpret a key cornerstone of international humanitarian law: the principle of discrimination between combatants and civilians.
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Hampf, Michaela. "Victims, perpetrators or actors? Gender, armed conflict and political violence." Women's Studies International Forum 25, no. 6 (November 2002): 698–700. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0277-5395(02)00344-8.
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Stanley, Elizabeth. "Victims, perpetrators or actors? Gender, armed conflict and political violence." Political Geography 22, no. 8 (November 2003): 921–23. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/s0962-6298(02)00064-1.
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Wilson, F. "Victims, Perpetrators or Actors? Gender, Armed Conflict and Political Violence." Journal of Refugee Studies 15, no. 4 (December 1, 2002): 424–25. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jrs/15.4.424.
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Macaspac, Nerve Valerio. "Indigenous Geopolitics: Creating Indigenous Spaces of Community Self-Protection and Peace Amid Violent Conflict." Journal of Pacifism and Nonviolence 1, no. 2 (September 29, 2023): 181–207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/27727882-bja00013.
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Abstract This article examines the social and spatial dimensions of civilian agency amid violent conflicts, specifically focusing on the daily work required from indigenous community members in the upkeep of a peace zone as a space of peace and self-protection amid insurgency and counterinsurgency. Using the concept of indigenous geopolitics as an analytical framework, it argues that indigenous spaces of self-protection require the simultaneous processes of collective refusal of state or non-state violence toward indigenous peoples and the re-inscription of indigenous sovereignty within the nation-state. Through case study vignettes, it illustrates the agentive capacities and power of indigenous peoples as geopolitical actors. Rather than viewing indigenous communities as ‘passive victims’ of violent conflicts or excluded from state-centric geopolitical discourses and processes, this article reveals that indigenous agency transforms spaces of conflict and violence and generates and creates new or alternative spaces of unarmed civilian protection and peace outside of the purview of state and non-state armed actors. At stake is a re-thinking or destabilizing of dominant state-centric geopolitical processes that govern contemporary understanding of civilian protection, war, conflict, and peace.
Dissertations / Theses on the topic "Victims and actors of armed conflicts"
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Pizzetta, Scarlett. "Entreprises et droit international humanitaire." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Université Côte d'Azur, 2024. http://www.theses.fr/2024COAZ0004.
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La mondialisation de l'économie de marché ouvre de nouveaux horizons aux entreprises commerciales en étant source de croissance, d'emplois et de prospérité, même si elle engendre aussi des risques, en particulier lorsque les entreprises développent des activités dans des zones en proie à des conflits armés, internationaux ou internes, ou dans des territoires occupés.Les entreprises sont incitées par la société civile et les organisations internationales à tenir de plus en plus compte du droit relatif aux droits de l'homme, qui s'applique tant en période de conflit armé que de paix.Le droit international humanitaire, alors même qu'il est spécifiquement conçu pour régir des situations de conflit armé, qu'il a des effets importants pour elles lorsqu'elles opèrent dans des pays qui connaissent de telles situations, leur est moins connu et fait moins l'objet d'attention par la doctrine, notamment francophone.Un certain nombre de contentieux récents ont soulevé des interrogations en la matière, tant sur le plan de la protection des entreprises par le corpus du droit international humanitaire, que sur celui de la soumission des entreprises à ces règles.Cette thèse analyse l'applicabilité du droit international humanitaire aux entreprises commerciales, à leurs salariés, leurs biens, leurs activités qui peuvent être à la fois des cibles, des victimes, des participants des conflits armés, voire des auteurs de violations du droit international humanitaire, soulevant des interrogations relatives à l'adaptation et la pertinence du DIH à ces entitésGlobalization of market economy offers new opportunities for business enterprises by being a source of growth, jobs and prosperity, although it can also generate risks, especially when they develop activities in areas plagued by armed conflicts, either international or internal, and in occupied territories.Enterprises are being encouraged by civil society and international organizations to increasingly consider human rights law, which applies whether in armed conflict or peace condition.International humanitarian law, even though it is specifically designed to handle situations of armed conflict, and since it has important effects for business enterprises when they operate in countries experiencing such situations, is less known to them and less subject of attention by the doctrine, especially the French-speaking one.A number of recent disputes have raised questions in this area, both in terms of business enterprises by the corpus of international humanitarian law, and about enterprises submission to these rules.This thesis analyses the applicability of international humanitarian law to business enterprises, their employees, their properties, their activities which may be at the same time targets, victims, participants in armed conflicts, even perpetrators of international humanitarian law violations, raising questions relating to the adaptation and relevance of IHL to these entities
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Longoni, Gian Marco. "How civil conflicts end: Fragmented and competitive armed oppositions and the outcomes of civil conflicts (1989-2017)." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11572/315015.
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In the last three decades, civil conflicts have become more complex and intractable than in the past. One reason for this development is the proliferation of rebel groups within the armed oppositions involved in these conflicts. Today, armed oppositions are more likely to be movements composed of loosely connected or competing rebel groups rather than unitary blocs. Yet, despite their centrality to the dynamics of conflict, different structural characteristics of and competitive and power relations within armed oppositions have not been taken in adequate account as possible predictors of civil conflict outcomes. To further our knowledge and cover this gap in the scholarship, the dissertation investigates how and to what extent the fragmentation, internal competition, and internal power distribution of armed oppositions affect civil conflict termination.
The dissertation develops a theory that sees the fragmentation of, a moderate and severe competition, and a dispersed distribution of power within armed oppositions as having an impact on the fighting effectiveness of the rebels, the countereffort of the government, bargaining problems, and the intensity of the conflict. This impact shapes, in turn, how civil conflicts end. This theory is tested with a nested analysis consisting of a large-N and a small-N analysis. Through the large-N analysis, the dissertation demonstrates that, at a general level, these characteristics of armed oppositions indeed affect how civil conflicts end. Through the small-N analysis, the dissertation further illustrates the causal mechanisms linking these characteristics to specific civil conflict outcomes.
With these findings, the dissertation makes two important contributions. First, it provides generalisable conclusions that remedy the limited generalisability of the scholarship on the phenomena under study. Second, it provides indications on how to resolve conflicts in which the involved oppositions are fragmented and bedevilled by internal competition, thus helping disentangle the proverbial complexity of multi-party civil conflicts.
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Longoni, Gian Marco. "How civil conflicts end: Fragmented and competitive armed oppositions and the outcomes of civil conflicts (1989-2017)." Doctoral thesis, Università degli studi di Trento, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11572/315015.
Full textAbstract:
In the last three decades, civil conflicts have become more complex and intractable than in the past. One reason for this development is the proliferation of rebel groups within the armed oppositions involved in these conflicts. Today, armed oppositions are more likely to be movements composed of loosely connected or competing rebel groups rather than unitary blocs. Yet, despite their centrality to the dynamics of conflict, different structural characteristics of and competitive and power relations within armed oppositions have not been taken in adequate account as possible predictors of civil conflict outcomes. To further our knowledge and cover this gap in the scholarship, the dissertation investigates how and to what extent the fragmentation, internal competition, and internal power distribution of armed oppositions affect civil conflict termination.
The dissertation develops a theory that sees the fragmentation of, a moderate and severe competition, and a dispersed distribution of power within armed oppositions as having an impact on the fighting effectiveness of the rebels, the countereffort of the government, bargaining problems, and the intensity of the conflict. This impact shapes, in turn, how civil conflicts end. This theory is tested with a nested analysis consisting of a large-N and a small-N analysis. Through the large-N analysis, the dissertation demonstrates that, at a general level, these characteristics of armed oppositions indeed affect how civil conflicts end. Through the small-N analysis, the dissertation further illustrates the causal mechanisms linking these characteristics to specific civil conflict outcomes.
With these findings, the dissertation makes two important contributions. First, it provides generalisable conclusions that remedy the limited generalisability of the scholarship on the phenomena under study. Second, it provides indications on how to resolve conflicts in which the involved oppositions are fragmented and bedevilled by internal competition, thus helping disentangle the proverbial complexity of multi-party civil conflicts.
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Wager, James B. "Towards the attenuation of hardship : is there room for combatant immunity in internal armed conflicts? /." (Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader), 2000. http://stinet.dtic.mil/str/tr4%5Ffields.html.
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Vergel, Tovar Carolina. "Usages militants et institutionnels du droit à propos de la cause des femmes victimes du conflit armé en Colombie." Thesis, Paris 10, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013PA100093.
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A partir de la reconstruction et de l’analyse du processus d’apparition de la question des femmes victimes du conflit armé en Colombie comme une cause de mobilisation féministe, cette recherche rend compte du rôle structurel du droit dans sa gestation et sa consolidation. Grâce à une approche qui articule les perspectives de la sociologie du droit, de la sociologie des mouvements sociaux, ainsi que de la critique féministe du droit, l’analyse met en exergue les conditions d’émergence des dénonciations publiques et juridiques des femmes affectées par les violences armées, qu’elles se mobilisent d’elles-mêmes ou que la mobilisation se fasse en leur nom. A partir d’une enquête empirique fondée principalement sur des entretiens, l’analyse des discours et l’observation du fonctionnement des instances judiciaires, outre la compréhension du rôle axial du recours au droit et à la justice dans ces processus, l’analyse de la cause permet d’enquêter sur la place de la question des femmes et des victimes dans l’action publique en Colombie, notamment dans les politiques qui visent la « sortie du conflit ». Des concepts tels que « justice transitionnelle », « droits humains des femmes » ou les « politiques constitutionnelles » sont aussi revus conformément à une perspective constitutive du droit. L’histoire contemporaine du conflit armé colombien, des mobilisations sociales pour la paix ou contre la guerre, ainsi que des efforts institutionnels pour gérer les effets des violences se trouvent ainsi interpelées. D’une part, du fait de la perspective doublement genrée que les objets « femme victime » et « mobilisation féministe » introduisent. D’autre part, en raison des dynamiques générées par le surgissement de la question des femmes victimes comme étant à la fois un objet de mobilisation, un sujet de dénonciation, et une « sujette de droits »This research focuses on the reconstruction and analysis of the process of the emergence of the issue of women victims of the armed conflict in Colombia, as a result of feminist mobilization. The research shows the structural role of law and legal mobilization in its birth and consolidation. With an approach that articulates the perspectives of sociology of law, sociology of social movements, and the feminist critique of law, the analysis highlights the conditions for the emergence of legal and public denunciations of women affected by armed violence. Grounded on an empirical research based primarily on interviews, discourse analysis and observation of court proceedings, the analysis of the cause allows to investigate the place of the issue of women and victims in public policies, including the efforts for achieve the "end of the conflict", in addition to understanding the pivotal role of recourse to law and justice in these processes. Concepts such as "transitional justice", "the human rights of women" or "constitutional politics" are also reviewed and discussed through a "constitutive" law perspective. In this way, the contemporary history of the Colombian armed conflict, and of the social mobilization for peace and against war, and also the history of institutional efforts to manage the effects of violence, are also revisited. On one hand, the discussion of those topics is determined by the fact that they can be thought as an effect of the double gendered perspective that topics such as "women victims" and "feminist mobilization" introduce. On the other hand, they are also part of a more global discussion due to the dynamics generated by the public emergence of the issue of women victims, who are simultaneously an object of mobilization, a subject of denunciation, and a "subject of rights"
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Kimbembe-Lemba, Aymar. "Le statut des salariés des sociétés militaires privés participant aux conflits armés." Thesis, Poitiers, 2012. http://www.theses.fr/2012POIT3012.
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Il existe une distinction entre les civils et les membres des forces armées. Cette distinction est implicitement la question de fond de cette étude sur la détermination du statut juridique des salariés des sociétés militaires privées (SMP) participant aux conflits armés. Par ailleurs, la défense et la sécurité de l'État sont assurées par divers acteurs de statuts différents qui ont des rôles bien définis par un cadre juridique : les civils et les membres des forces armées. La distinction sus-évoquée ne se limite pas là, mais elle concerne aussi les seuls membres des forces armées car il existe une distinction interne et une autre externe. Tous les membres des forces armées n'ont pas droit au statut de combattant. En revanche, la négation du statut de combattant à certains militaires n'est que relative et elle n'influence pas leur droit au statut de prisonnier de guerre. Ces militaires sont différents des personnes employées en dehors des forces armées et mandatées par leur employeur pour fournir des prestations auprès des armées sur un théâtre d'opérations. Cette utilisation soulève plusieurs questions en DIH. Les SMP fournissent des prestations qui vont de la logistique à la participation directe aux hostilités. Cette participation directe ou indirecte aux hostilités débouche sur une « hémorragie de langage » pour qualifier les salariés des SMP de mercenaires, de nouveaux mercenaires, de « security contractors », des soldats à vendre, des combattants irréguliers, etc. Ainsi, les salariés de ces sociétés exercent-ils une activité de mercenariat ? Leurs sociétés-employeurs constituent-elles des sociétés de secours ?A distinction is made between civilians and military personnel. This distinction is implicit in the substantive issue of this study on determining the legal status of employees of private military companies (PMCs) involved in armed conflicts. Moreover, the defense and State security are provided by various actors of different statuses that have defined roles for a legal framework. Civilians and members of the armed forces are indeed links in this chain. The distinction mentioned over is not confined there, but it is also about the only members of the armed forces because there is a distinction between internal and one external. All members of the armed forces are not entitled to combatant status. However, the denial of combatant status to certain military is only relative and does not affect their right to prisoner of war status. These soldiers are different from those employed outside the armed forces and mandated by their employer to provide benefits to the armies in a theater of operations. This use raises several issues in IHL. PMCs provide services that go from logistics to direct participation in hostilities. This direct or indirect participation in hostilities leads to a “hemorrhage of language” to describe employees of PMCs as mercenaries, new mercenaries, defense and security contractors, soldiers for sale, irregular combatants, etc. Thus, the employees of these companies undertake specific activities of mercenaries? Their companies-employers do they constitute relief societies ? Are they combatants, noncombatants or irregular combatants ? This is so prompt questions that this thesis attempts to answer
Books on the topic "Victims and actors of armed conflicts"
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N, Moser Caroline O., and Clark Fiona C. 1975-, eds. Victims, perpetrators or actors?: Gender, armed conflict and political violence. London: Zed Books, 2001.
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Germany. Bundesministerium der Verteidigung. Abteilung Verwaltung und Recht., ed. Humanitarian law in armed conflicts. [Bonn]: Federal Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany, VR II 3, 1992.
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Sandvik-Nylund, Monika. Caught in conflicts: Civilian victims, humanitarian assistance and international law. 2nd ed. Åbo, Finland: Åbo Akademi University, Institute for Human Rights, 2003.
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Sandvik-Nylund, Monika. Caught in conflicts: Civilian victims, humanitarian assistance, and international law. Turku/Åbo: Institute for Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University, 1998.
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Helland, Anita. Women and armed conflicts: A study for the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Oslo?]: Norwegian Institute of International Affair, 2000.
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Leon, Gérard. Situation of the disabled children and women victims of armed conflicts in Angola and Mozambique. [Luanda]: Rehabilitation International, 1989.
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Mongella, Lillian Mihayo. The right to compensation for victims of internal armed conflicts in East Africa: A case study of genocide victims in Rwanda. Dar es Salaam: Dar es Salaam University Press, 2014.
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Paenson, Isaac. English-French-Spanish-Russian manual of the terminology of the law of armed conflicts and of international humanitarian organizations. Brussels: Bruylant, 1989.
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United States. President (1981-1989 : Reagan) and United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Foreign Relations., eds. Protocol II additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and relating to the protection of victims of noninternational armed conflicts: Message from the President of the United States transmitting the Protocol II additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and relating to the protection of victims of noninternational armed conflicts, concluded at Geneva on June 10, 1977. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1987.
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Affairs, Canada Dept of External. Geneva conventions: Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 1, with Annexes) and of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol 2) (with Canadian Reservations and Statements of Understanding). S.l: s.n, 1991.
Find full textBook chapters on the topic "Victims and actors of armed conflicts"
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Boggero, Giovanni, and Karin Oellers-Frahm. "Between Cynicism and Idealism: Is the Italian Constitutional Court Passing the Buck to the Italian Judiciary?" In Remedies against Immunity?, 281–309. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-62304-6_15.
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AbstractIn this chapter we focus on the consequences of Sentenza 238/2014 for the Italian judiciary. The judgment of the Corte Costituzionale obliges the Italian tribunals to admit claims for the reparation of victims or the heirs of victims and to decide on the merits. In this context, a series of difficult legal questions arise that require consistent answers. The practice shows, however, that consistent answers cannot be taken for granted as long as the decision is in the hands of lower-level tribunals. The questions to be solved concern, firstly, who can bring a claim: the victims only or—in cases where they are no longer alive—also their spouses, children, or even grandchildren and other family members? This raises a second question namely whether there is any time limit for bringing claims, which of course touches upon more general concerns, such as intertemporal law, statutory limitations, prescriptions, forfeiture and inadmissibility due to reparation agreements. Thirdly, there is the question as to the specific nature of the reparations: for example, financial reparations and their calculation standards, or satisfaction only? A further question arising from all decisions granting reparation relates to the execution of the judgments, as it seems rather illusory that Germany will comply voluntarily with such judgments. An additional aspect the chapter addresses is the broader impact of the decisions of the Italian judiciary: the non-recognition of state immunity before Italian tribunals will make Italy an attractive forum for similar claims, evidence of which has already emerged. Furthermore, the decisions of the tribunals will serve—although certainly involuntarily—as precedents in similar cases not only in Italy. Such effects will concern issues such as (a) the reparation of war-related claims on an individual basis and (b) their consequences for the readiness of states to terminate armed activities by concluding peace treaties and reparation agreements on a lump sum basis. With a view to actual armed conflicts that are mostly not international armed conflicts the question has then to be asked (c) whether individual reparation claims will lead to discriminatory consequences as reparation will probably only be realizable for victims of war crimes committed by state organs and not those committed by non-state actors. The chapter will then conclude by trying to assess more in general the task of constitutional and/or supreme courts to balance the consequences flowing from their decisions against their power or intent to enhance the development of (international) law.
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Grover, Sonja C. "The International Legal Responsibility to Child Victims of Systematic Torture During Armed Conflict." In The Torture of Children During Armed Conflicts, 171–213. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40689-8_8.
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Sehring, Jenniver, Rozemarijn ter Horst, and Alexandra Said. "Reporting on water diplomacy: does gender matter?" In Water conflicts and cooperation: a media handbook, 9–12. Wallingford: CABI, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1079/9781789247954.0003a.
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Abstract In media, donor reports and research articles that address gender and water management, the focus is usually on water supply and sanitation at household level or local management in the agricultural sector. Transboundary water governance, water diplomacy and conflict prevention at an interstate level is seen as a man's world. Indeed, numbers show that women are under-represented in decision-making positions in transboundary river basin organizations. Often, this is not further reflected, as political processes and decisions are assumed to be neutral. What does the gendered nature of water diplomacy mean for reporting on water conflicts and water cooperation? Across the world women are increasingly taking up spaces which previously were dominated by men, also in water diplomacy. However, often women are not portrayed as leaders, experts and agents of change, but as victims or vulnerable groups. Gender-sensitive reporting can change this - by representing female decision makers in their professional roles, but also by pointing to their absence - e.g. pointing to all-male delegations or expert panels. Another aspect is to concentrate reporting not only on the (male) leaders, but to show the variety of actors who contribute to any negotiation or agreement - which automatically brings a more diverse picture of the relevant actors. Finally, it is crucial to question seemingly 'neutral', 'usual' and taken-for-granted practices and ask if there wouldn't be alternative ways to address water conflicts if other actors were to be given a voice.
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Dieter, Fleck. "19 The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict." In The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law. Oxford University Press, 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198847960.003.0019.
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This chapter provides an overview of the law of non-international armed conflicts and its progressive development. The law of armed conflict, as it has developed in the last part of the nineteenth and the first part of the twentieth century, deals predominantly with wars between states. Its basic principles and rules are, however, likewise relevant for non-international armed conflicts: in all armed conflicts, elementary considerations of humanity must be respected under all circumstances, in order to protect victims, to reduce human sufferings, and to minimize damages to objects vital for survival. Therefore, the parties to the conflict do not have an unlimited choice of the means and methods of conducting hostilities, nor of selecting the targets to be attacked, and they must protect the victims from the effects and consequences of war. This concept is reflected in the principles and rules of international humanitarian law, to be respected by all and, while taking military necessity into account, limiting the use of force for humanitarian reasons. Parties to the conflict respecting these principles and rules are considered as respecting the international order, while those seriously violating them will commit internationally wrongful acts and perpetrators are liable to punishment.
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Eve, Massingham, and Thynne Kelisiana. "14 Humanitarian Relief Operations." In The Oxford Guide to International Humanitarian Law. Oxford University Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/law/9780198855309.003.0014.
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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.
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Moffett, Luke. "Non-State Armed Groups and Reparations." In Reparations and War, 195–224. Oxford University PressOxford, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192865588.003.0008.
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Abstract Non-State armed groups have often been ignored as being responsible actors in making reparations or derided as not having sufficient capacity to make such redress to their victims. This chapter explores how armed groups do engage in reparations during war and peacetime for a range of motivations and how this can inform international legal practice. This chapter begins by discussing the international legal position of non-State armed groups and the extent to which we can speak of their obligation to make reparations to their victims. The second section analyses the motivations of armed groups to make reparations in line with their own ideology or collective identity around grievances for past or ongoing violations. It then turns to consider the practice of reparations during conflict by armed groups, and finally the making of reparations after the end of hostilities and during peacetime. Highlighting this diverse practice and understanding of reparations by non-State armed groups serves to underscore the prevalence of such efforts, but also how reparations can resonate and connect to the values, ideology, and culture of an armed group in accounting for their violence.
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Kanfash, Mohammad, and Ali Aljasem. "Starvation as Strategy in the Syrian Armed Conflict." In Accountability for Mass Starvation, 195—C8.N79. Oxford University PressOxford, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192864734.003.0008.
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Abstract This chapter addresses the use of starvation as a weapon of war during the war in Syria including the possible goals and methods of the perpetrators, the outcomes for the victims, as well as the question of accountability. To provide a scope of the use of starvation during the war, as a tactic deployed by a variety of actors and across different geographies, this chapter includes four case studies: eastern Ghouta (in the Damascus suburbs), Aleppo, Deir Alzor, and starvation in detention. It draws on the authors’ interviews, previous research, and professional experience as humanitarian relief workers during the armed conflict in Syria, and an extensive review of media, human rights, and humanitarian reporting on conditions in the country throughout the civil war.
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Payne, Leigh A., Gabriel Pereira, and Laura Bernal-Bermúdez. "The Business of Transnational Justice." In The Oxford Handbook of Transitional Justice. Oxford University Press, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198704355.013.44.
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Abstract Scholars and practitioners have referred to corporate accountability as the missing piece of the transitional justice puzzle. This chapter suggests that is not entirely the case. Truth commissions and human rights judicial processes have held economic actors accountable for complicity in violations during authoritarian rule and armed conflicts around the world. What is missing, however, is the visibility of these processes, an understanding of how they have occurred from below in the global south, and against the strong veto power by business. This chapter fills in that missing puzzle piece using analysis of an original Corporate Accountability and Transitional Justice (CATJ) data base. It uses the analogy of Archimedes’ Lever to reveal how weak actors (victims in the global south) with the right tool (institutional innovation in blending domestic and international human rights norms) can lift up the weight of corporate accountability, from under the powerful pressure from economic veto players, particularly in favorable political environments.
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Niño Vega, Nohora Constanza. "Peacebuilding with youth: experience in Cúcuta, Colombia." In Peacebuilding, Conflict and Community Development, 40–58. Policy Press, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/policypress/9781447359333.003.0003.
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In Colombia, in the wake of a long-term armed conflict that resulted in multiple acts of violence with many victims, peacebuilding has become the daily work of various social and governmental actors. In this violent context, talking about peacebuilding, particularly a peace built from below, means talking about day-by-day processes which have the potential to form different relationships and deliver on the actual protection of life rather than it being spoken about as meaningless rhetoric. This chapter shares reflections on the peacebuilding actions carried out by a youth social organisation in the border town of Cúcuta. It demonstrates the ways in which peacebuilding processes in conflict areas such as Colombia have the greatest impact on community cohesion when they are defined and implemented from below. Everyday peace arises by and for local communities, who are the main promoters and connectors, not only of their lived reality but also of the possibilities of local transformation.
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Obete, Moses. "Gun Violence and Personal Security in Uganda." In Gun Violence and Prevention - Connections, Cultures, and Consequences [Working Title]. IntechOpen, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.1002867.
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Gun violence involves unlawful acts of aggression by use of firearms. These acts involve causing death, physical or and emotional injuries to the victims. An analysis of the Uganda Police crime reports shows that homicide resulting from gun violence in the last 10 years from 2012 to 2022 averages 206.4 cases per year. Although Uganda is not among the countries with the highest number of murders by shooting, there has been a steady rise in the cases of gun violence. Gun violence never existed in the country until the introduction of firearms in the country in the 1890s through either European hunters or the colonial government. After independence, the country witnessed several internal armed conflicts which resulted in the spread of illegal firearms. In the Northeastern region, the firearms inflow resulted from its proximity to conflict prone neighbouring countries of Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, and the Northwestern Kenya. These factors have resulted in rampant gun violence especially in central and Northeastern Uganda. Although most acts of gun violence in Northeastern Uganda are committed by unregistered firearms, gun violence in central Uganda and other parts of the country are committed mostly by registered firearms from public and private security organisations.
Conference papers on the topic "Victims and actors of armed conflicts"
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Adwani. "The Existence of Distinction Principle in Preventing Victims of Armed Conflicts Based on the International Humanitarian Law." In International Conference on Law, Governance and Islamic Society (ICOLGIS 2019). Paris, France: Atlantis Press, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.200306.172.
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Ranđelović, Višnja. "VICTIMS AND WITNESSES ASSISTANCE SERVICES BEFORE THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT." In International scientific conference challenges and open issues of service law. Vol. 2. University of Kragujevac, Faculty of law, 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.46793/xxmajsko2.441r.
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The commission of a large number of international crimes during armed conflicts entails mass victimization, and therefore a large number of victims and witnesses who participate in proceedings before international criminal courts. The great traumatic experience of these victims and witnesses, the fact that they have to testify in front of a court that is relocated in relation to the country of residence, as well as the fear of appearing before the court and possibly meeting the defendant, requires that the victims and witnesses who participate in the proceedings before the international criminal courts are provided with comprehensive protection, assistance and support. In this sense, special units for victims and witnesses have been established, which within the framework of international criminal courts provide victims and witnesses with a variety of services aimed at ensuring their protection, assistance and support. The paper specifically examines the normative arrangement of the Victims and Witnesses Unit within the International Criminal Court, as well as the practical implementation of the services that this Unit provides to victims and witnesses, starting with preparing their arrival at the seat of the Court, through the testimony itself, to ensuring their safe return to the country residence.
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Gabrielli, Giulia. "INDIVIDUAL CRIMINAL RESPONSIBILITY OF NON-STATE ACTORS OPERATING IN CYBERSPACE FOR WAR CRIMES UNDER THE ICC STATUTE." In International Scientific Conference on International, EU and Comparative Law Issues “Law in the Age of Modern Technologies”. Faculty of Law, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.25234/eclic/28268.
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Contemporary armed conflict has witnessed an increased employment of digital technologies in the conduct of hostilities. While there is broad consensus on the full applicability of the rules and principles of international humanitarian law (IHL) to the “fifth domain” of warfare, many issues remain debated. More specifically, digital technologies allow a wide range of actors other than States – such as individuals, “hacktivists”, criminal groups, non-State armed groups – to play a role in the hostilities and engage in cyber operations that have the potential of harming civilians or damaging civilian infrastructure and that may amount to serious violations of IHL. Against this backdrop, this paper seeks to examine the legal grounds upon which hostile cyber operations carried out by non-State actors (NSAs) could constitute war crimes, thus entailing their individual criminal responsibility under international law. Hence, the analysis will focus on the applicability of the war crimes provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to such operations, with a view to identifying the prerequisites necessary to trigger the ICC’s jurisdiction. To this end, the first part will focus on the increased involvement of NSAs in the conduct of hostilities by cyber means, taking the recent conflict between Russia and Ukraine as a pertinent case study. Subsequently, the paper will explore the conditions necessary for the application of Article 8 of the ICC Statute, with special attention devoted to those aspects that are deemed particularly problematic in light of the participation of NSAs in armed conflict. Finally, the paper seeks to highlight the limits of possible future investigations of cyber conducts possibly amounting to war crimes. These encompass not only issues of admissibility, but also the statutory limits of the Rome Statute when it comes to war crimes provisions applicable to noninternational armed conflicts.
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"Application of International Humanitarian Law to State and Non-State Actors in Armed Conflicts: A Case Study of Turkey-Syrian Kurdish Resistance Movement Conflict." In International Conference on Accounting, Business, Economics and Politics. Tishk International University, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.23918/icabep2022p34.
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MESESAN SCHMITZ, Luiza Iuliana, Ion NEGRILA, Vlad BATRANU-PINTEA, Claudiu COMAN, and Ovidiu TODERICI. "PREVENTING VIOLENCE IN THE EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM." In 10th SWS International Scientific Conferences on SOCIAL SCIENCES - ISCSS 2023. SGEM WORLD SCIENCE, 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.35603/sws.iscss.2023/s08.36.
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Violence is an evil that surrounds today's society because Humana beings are violent by naturally due to their Needle to protection and defend themselves. Violence in the EDUCATION field is understood as the intentional harmful action or omission carried out between members of the EDUCATION community (students, teachers, parents, administrative staff, others EDUCATION actors) and which takes place in the physical premises of the Educational Unit (school infrastructures), or in other spaces directly related to the school (around the Educational Unit or places where extracurricular activities are carried out). It is a phenomenon that must be jointly assumed by EDUCATION authorities, teachers, parents, and students themselves who have the right to exercise their voice _ _ establish preventive rather than corrections actions. From an early age, children learn that violence is a brave way to resolve various personal conflicts, especially if they have suffered in the home, either as victims of bullying or as witnesses. Violence is gradually becoming the usual way of expressing different emotional states, such as anger, frustration or fear, a situation that is not limited exclusively to the family, but will invariably drink have reflected in the interaction of each family member with society. The teacher in the EDUCATION field shows the opportunity to identify and even preventively risky situations for students, being able to relationship to the child and his family, thus favoring prevention in the EDUCATION community. The family is very important for the prevention of violence in the EDUCATION system because they become role models for their children.
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Kurapka, Vidmantas Egidijus, Henryk Malewsky, Snieguole Matuliene, and Rolandas Kriksciunas. "HATE CRIMES: TRENDS IN LITHUANIA." In 9th SWS International Scientific Conferences on SOCIAL SCIENCES - ISCSS 2022. SGEM WORLD SCIENCE, 2022. http://dx.doi.org/10.35603/sws.iscss.2022/s02.009.
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Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected and protected. Everyone has the right to respect for his or her physical and mental integrity. [1] Hate crimes are crimes motivated by racial, ethnic, or religious hatred or hostility. Media regularly reports violence against certain ethnic groups. Lithuania, like other EU countries, applies EU law directly or transposes it into national law. These changes have also had an impact on the fight against hate crime, as this type of crime has received increasing attention from the international community in recent years. Crimes of this sort not only cause physical and mental suffering or economic loss but also lead to changes in relations between different social groups, mistrust, suspicion, and hostility. These crimes can also lead to armed conflicts, forcing many people to flee their homes and seek asylum abroad. The increase in the number of victims of these crimes is a breeding ground for radical extremism and even terrorism. Countries work on improving laws criminalising hate crimes. Over the course of writing the present article, the author held meetings with representatives of the Jewish and sexual minority (LGBT) communities, conducted 35 indepth interviews with representatives of each group, and examined the EU and Lithuanian case law. Possible hate incidents recorded in the study range from verbal abuse to assault and knife stabbing. It has been found that people belonging to the Jewish and LGBT communities feel hostility not only from strangers but also from co-workers and peers. The Jewish community daily face anti-Semitic stereotypes and jokes, whether spoken directly to them or behind their backs. LGBT people also experience hatred from family members and relatives who not only stop communicating with them upon learning about their sexual orientation but also make insulting comments.
Reports on the topic "Victims and actors of armed conflicts"
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Ortiz Arciniegas, Catalina, Natalia Villamizar Duarte, Eliana Torres Toro, Gloria Naranjo, Juan Esteban Lopera, Fernando Zapata, Paula Vargas López, and Claudia Rengifo. Policy Brief No. 11. Comprehensive neighbourhood upgrading for peace (CNU-PEACE). A strategy for territorial reparation. Universidad del Valle, June 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.25100/policy-briefs.pb.11-eng.
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Territorial planning is crucial in the implementation of urban territorial peace. Self-built neighbourhoods and their residents have been the most affected by the armed conflict and have suffered collective, community, and territorial damage more intensely. Therefore, it is imperative to generate restorative measures aimed at comprehensive reparations for surviving victims and communities affected by multiple forms of violence. The Comprehensive Neighbourhood Upgrading (CNU) is a multidimensional territorial intervention strategy that involves a long-term, multi-actor and multi-scalar political commitment to improve housing conditions. A CNU with a territorial peace focus (CNU-PEACE) requires a gender, generational, differential, and intersectional perspective that articulates policies, instruments, and physical and social interventions to repair the damage caused by the conflict, enabling the exercise of the right to the city and contributing to the de-escalation of violence. This Policy Brief presents the articulation between CNU and the construction of territorial peace to advance territorial reparation in Medellín.
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Lyammouri, Rida. Central Mali: Armed Community Mobilization in Crisis. RESOLVE Network, November 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.37805/cbags2021.4.
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The proliferation of community-based armed groups (CBAGs) in Mali’s Mopti and Ségou Regions has contributed to transforming Central Mali into a regional epicenter of conflict since 2016. Due to the lack of adequate presence of the state, certain vulnerable, conflict-affected communities resorted to embracing non-state armed groups as security umbrellas in the context of inter-communal violence. These local conflicts are the result of long-standing issues over increasing pressure on natural resources, climate shocks, competing economic lifestyles, nepotistic and exclusionary resource management practices, and the shifting representations of a segregated, historically constructed sense of ethnic identities in the region. This report untangles the legitimacy of armed groups, mobilizing factors, and the multi-level impact of violence implicating CBAGs. It further explores the relations amongst different actors, including the state, armed groups, and communities. The findings provide relevant insight for context-specific policy design toward conflict resolution and hybrid security governance.
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Rokhideh, Maryam. Leveraging the Peacebuilding Potential of Cross-border Trader Networks in Sub-Saharan Africa. RESOLVE Network, July 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.37805/pn2021.17.lpbi.
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Cross-border trade plays a prominent role in economic, social, and political life in Sub-Saharan Africa, contributing significantly to development, poverty reduction, and job creation. Across the continent, cross-border trade accounts for 43 percent of the entire population’s income. As actors embedded in licit and illicit networks at local and regional levels, cross-border traders have the potential to fuel conflict or mitigate it. They can act as spoilers, supporting armed groups and war economies, or as peace intermediaries, negotiating peace deals and bridging conflict divides across communities. Given that most armed conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa are shaped by cross-border dynamics, cross-border traders present an underexamined yet critical point of entry for analyzing and addressing conflicts and should be included in new and ongoing peacebuilding programming. This policy note provides recommendations on how policymakers can leverage the untapped peacebuilding potential of cross-border traders and decrease their spoiling power.
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Obado-Joel, Jennifer. The Challenge of State-Backed Internal Security in Nigeria: Considerations for Amotekun. RESOLVE Network, December 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.37805/pn2020.9.ssa.
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Nigeria faces immense internal security challenges, including the Boko-Haram crisis in the northeast and violent farmer-herder conflicts in the southwest and north-central states. Across the Nigerian federation, pockets of violent clashes have sprung and escalated in new locales in the last decade. Community responses to these violent crises have been diverse and included the establishment of armed groups to supplement or act in parallel to the security efforts of the Nigerian state—in some cases with backing from federal or state governments. These local security assemblages, community-based armed groups (CBAGs), are on the one hand contributors to local order, and normative conceptions of peace and security. On the other hand, these groups are often a pernicious actor within the broader security landscape, undermining intercommunal peace and drivers of violence and human rights abuses. This Policy Note focuses on the characteristics, challenges, and opportunities of Amotekun, a recently formed CBAG in Southwest Nigeria. Drawing from the experiences of similar Nigerian groups, the Note details recommendations that may facilitate greater success and lessen poten al risk associated with Amotekun’s formation. These recommendations are aimed primarily at Nigerian government and civil society actors and describe areas where external support could potentially improve local capacity to conduct oversight of Amotekun and similar groups.
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Delgado, Caroline, Kristina Tschunkert, and Dan Smith. Food Insecurity in Africa: Drivers and Solutions. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, January 2023. http://dx.doi.org/10.55163/gisr2785.
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This paper explores how climate change, violent conflict, the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis combine to drive rapidly increasing levels of food insecurity. These drivers play out differently across and within regions and countries, and this paper focuses on how a combination of the drivers plays out on the African continent. It looks at four subregions—North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and Central and Southern Africa—and several countries within these regions. Africa is the continent with the highest proportion of people—just over 20 per cent— facing hunger. Africa also carries the heaviest burden from the impact of climate change. In 2021 18 countries in sub-Saharan Africa experienced armed conflicts. The economic fallout of climate change, conflict and the Covid-19 pandemic has widened inequality and sharpened societal divisions. Addressing the impacts of these compounding crises and breaking the vicious cycle of climate change, food insecurity and conflict requires a concerted effort by local, national, regional and global humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actors, governments and donors. To this end, the paper concludes with nine recommendations on the way forward.
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Lewis, Dustin, and Naz Modirzadeh. Taking into Account the Potential Effects of Counterterrorism Measures on Humanitarian and Medical Activities: Elements of an Analytical Framework for States Grounded in Respect for International Law. Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, May 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.54813/qbot8406.
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For at least a decade, States, humanitarian bodies, and civil-society actors have raised concerns about how certain counterterrorism measures can prevent or impede humanitarian and medical activities in armed conflicts. In 2019, the issue drew the attention of the world’s preeminent body charged with maintaining or restoring international peace and security: the United Nations Security Council. In two resolutions — Resolution 2462 (2019) and Resolution 2482 (2019) — adopted that year, the Security Council urged States to take into account the potential effects of certain counterterrorism measures on exclusively humanitarian activities, including medical activities, that are carried out by impartial humanitarian actors in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law (IHL). By implicitly recognizing that measures adopted to achieve one policy objective (countering terrorism) can impair or prevent another policy objective (safeguarding humanitarian and medical activities), the Security Council elevated taking into account the potential effects of certain counterterrorism measures on exclusively humanitarian activities to an issue implicating international peace and security. In this legal briefing, we aim to support the development of an analytical framework through which a State may seek to devise and administer a system to take into account the potential effects of counterterrorism measures on humanitarian and medical activities. Our primary intended audience includes the people involved in creating or administering a “take into account” system and in developing relevant laws and policies. Our analysis zooms in on Resolution 2462 (2019) and Resolution 2482 (2019) and focuses on grounding the framework in respect for international law, notably the U.N. Charter and IHL. In section 1, we introduce the impetus, objectives, and structure of the briefing. In our view, a thorough legal analysis of the relevant resolutions in their wider context is a crucial element to laying the conditions conducive to the development and administration of an effective “take into account” system. Further, the stakes and timeliness of the issue, the Security Council’s implicit recognition of a potential tension between measures adopted to achieve different policy objectives, and the relatively scant salient direct practice and scholarship on elements pertinent to “take into account” systems also compelled us to engage in original legal analysis, with a focus on public international law and IHL. In section 2, as a primer for readers unfamiliar with the core issues, we briefly outline humanitarian and medical activities and counterterrorism measures. Then we highlight a range of possible effects of the latter on the former. Concerning armed conflict, humanitarian activities aim primarily to provide relief to and protection for people affected by the conflict whose needs are unmet, whereas medical activities aim primarily to provide care for wounded and sick persons, including the enemy. Meanwhile, for at least several decades, States have sought to prevent and suppress acts of terrorism and punish those who commit, attempt to commit, or otherwise support acts of terrorism. Under the rubric of countering terrorism, States have taken an increasingly broad and diverse array of actions at the global, regional, and national levels. A growing body of qualitative and quantitative evidence documents how certain measures designed and applied to counter terrorism can impede or prevent humanitarian and medical activities in armed conflicts. In a nutshell, counterterrorism measures may lead to diminished or complete lack of access by humanitarian and medical actors to the persons affected by an armed conflict that is also characterized as a counterterrorism context, or those measures may adversely affect the scope, amount, or quality of humanitarian and medical services provided to such persons. The diverse array of detrimental effects of certain counterterrorism measures on humanitarian and medical activities may be grouped into several cross-cutting categories, including operational, financial, security, legal, and reputational effects. In section 3, we explain some of the key legal aspects of humanitarian and medical activities and counterterrorism measures. States have developed IHL as the primary body of international law applicable to acts and omissions connected with an armed conflict. IHL lays down several rights and obligations relating to a broad spectrum of humanitarian and medical activities pertaining to armed conflicts. A violation of an applicable IHL provision related to humanitarian or medical activities may engage the international legal responsibility of a State or an individual. Meanwhile, at the international level, there is no single, comprehensive body of counterterrorism laws. However, States have developed a collection of treaties to pursue specific anti-terrorism objectives. Further, for its part, the Security Council has assumed an increasingly prominent role in countering terrorism, including by adopting decisions that U.N. Member States must accept and carry out under the U.N. Charter. Some counterterrorism measures are designed and applied in a manner that implicitly or expressly “carves out” particular safeguards — typically in the form of limited exceptions or exemptions — for certain humanitarian or medical activities or actors. Yet most counterterrorism measures do not include such safeguards. In section 4, which constitutes the bulk of our original legal analysis, we closely evaluate the two resolutions in which the Security Council urged States to take into account the effects of (certain) counterterrorism measures on humanitarian and medical activities. We set the stage by summarizing some aspects of the legal relations between Security Council acts and IHL provisions pertaining to humanitarian and medical activities. We then analyze the status, consequences, and content of several substantive elements of the resolutions and what they may entail for States seeking to counter terrorism and safeguard humanitarian and medical activities. Among the elements that we evaluate are: the Security Council’s new notion of a prohibited financial “benefit” for terrorists as it may relate to humanitarian and medical activities; the Council’s demand that States comply with IHL obligations while countering terrorism; and the constituent parts of the Council’s notion of a “take into account” system. In section 5, we set out some potential elements of an analytical framework through which a State may seek to develop and administer its “take into account” system in line with Resolution 2462 (2019) and Resolution 2482 (2019). In terms of its object and purpose, a “take into account” system may aim to secure respect for international law, notably the U.N. Charter and IHL pertaining to humanitarian and medical activities. In addition, the system may seek to safeguard humanitarian and medical activities in armed conflicts that also qualify as counterterrorism contexts. We also identify two sets of preconditions arguably necessary for a State to anticipate and address relevant potential effects through the development and execution of its “take into account” system. Finally, we suggest three sets of attributes that a “take into account” system may need to embody to achieve its aims: utilizing a State-wide approach, focusing on potential effects, and including default principles and rules to help guide implementation. In section 6, we briefly conclude. In our view, jointly pursuing the policy objectives of countering terrorism and safeguarding humanitarian and medical activities presents several opportunities, challenges, and complexities. International law does not necessarily provide ready-made answers to all of the difficult questions in this area. Yet devising and executing a “take into account” system provides a State significant opportunities to safeguard humanitarian and medical activities and counter terrorism while securing greater respect for international law.
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Lewis, Dustin. Three Pathways to Secure Greater Respect for International Law concerning War Algorithms. Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.54813/wwxn5790.
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Existing and emerging applications of artificial intelligence in armed conflicts and other systems reliant upon war algorithms and data span diverse areas. Natural persons may increasingly depend upon these technologies in decisions and activities related to killing combatants, destroying enemy installations, detaining adversaries, protecting civilians, undertaking missions at sea, conferring legal advice, and configuring logistics. In intergovernmental debates on autonomous weapons, a normative impasse appears to have emerged. Some countries assert that existing law suffices, while several others call for new rules. Meanwhile, the vast majority of efforts by States to address relevant systems focus by and large on weapons, means, and methods of warfare. Partly as a result, the broad spectrum of other far-reaching applications is rarely brought into view. One normatively grounded way to help identify and address relevant issues is to elaborate pathways that States, international organizations, non-state parties to armed conflict, and others may pursue to help secure greater respect for international law. In this commentary, I elaborate on three such pathways: forming and publicly expressing positions on key legal issues, taking measures relative to their own conduct, and taking steps relative to the behavior of others. None of these pathways is sufficient in itself, and there are no doubt many others that ought to be pursued. But each of the identified tracks is arguably necessary to ensure that international law is — or becomes — fit for purpose. By forming and publicly expressing positions on relevant legal issues, international actors may help clarify existing legal parameters, pinpoint salient enduring and emerging issues, and detect areas of convergence and divergence. Elaborating legal views may also help foster greater trust among current and potential adversaries. To be sure, in recent years, States have already fashioned hundreds of statements on autonomous weapons. Yet positions on other application areas are much more difficult to find. Further, forming and publicly expressing views on legal issues that span thematic and functional areas arguably may help States and others overcome the current normative stalemate on autonomous weapons. Doing so may also help identify — and allocate due attention and resources to — additional salient thematic and functional areas. Therefore, I raise a handful of cross-domain issues for consideration. These issues touch on things like exercising human agency, reposing legally mandated evaluative decisions in natural persons, and committing to engage only in scrutable conduct. International actors may also take measures relative to their own conduct. To help illustrate this pathway, I outline several such existing measures. In doing so, I invite readers to inventory and peruse these types of steps in order to assess whether the nature or character of increasingly complex socio-technical systems reliant upon war algorithms and data may warrant revitalized commitments or adjustments to existing measures — or, perhaps, development of new ones. I outline things like enacting legislation necessary to prosecute alleged perpetrators of grave breaches, making legal advisers available to the armed forces, and taking steps to prevent abuses of the emblem. Finally, international actors may take measures relative to the conduct of others. To help illustrate this pathway, I outline some of the existing steps that other States, international organizations, and non-state parties may take to help secure respect for the law by those undertaking the conduct. These measures may include things like addressing matters of legal compliance by exerting diplomatic pressure, resorting to penal sanctions to repress violations, conditioning or refusing arms transfers, and monitoring the fate of transferred detainees. Concerning military partnerships in particular, I highlight steps such as conditioning joint operations on a partner’s compliance with the law, planning operations jointly in order to prevent violations, and opting out of specific operations if there is an expectation that the operations would violate applicable law. Some themes and commitments cut across these three pathways. Arguably, respect for the law turns in no small part on whether natural persons can and will foresee, understand, administer, and trace the components, behaviors, and effects of relevant systems. It may be advisable, moreover, to institute ongoing cross-disciplinary education and training as well as the provision of sufficient technical facilities for all relevant actors, from commanders to legal advisers to prosecutors to judges. Further, it may be prudent to establish ongoing monitoring of others’ technical capabilities. Finally, it may be warranted for relevant international actors to pledge to engage, and to call upon others to engage, only in armed-conflict-related conduct that is sufficiently attributable, discernable, and scrutable.
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Moro, Leben, Jennifer Palmer, and Tabitha Hrynick. Key Considerations for Responding to Floods in South Sudan Through the Humanitarian-Peace-Development Nexus. Institute of Development Studies, April 2024. http://dx.doi.org/10.19088/sshap.2024.005.
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In common with many other African countries, the Republic of South Sudan is increasingly experiencing devastating floods linked to climate change.1,2 The Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) and El Niño regulate the climate of Equatorial Eastern Africa. In 2019, a dipole warming in the western Indian Ocean, worsened by climate change, created higher than average evaporation off the African coastline. This water vapour fell inland as rainfall over Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan and South Sudan, causing massive floods.3 Since then, in the Sudd wetlands of central and north-eastern South Sudan, seasonal rains have been falling on already saturated land and adding to the floodwater. Large areas of the country have been submerged year-round and there have been sudden floods in new areas unaccustomed to them. At the same time, South Sudan has been struggling to move towards peace in the wake of its 2013-18 civil war, with many armed groups still fighting, and historical conflicts with Sudan dating back decades. The impact of flooding on the security environment and overall fragility of South Sudan has received high-profile attention.4,5 The severe floods – together with recurrent outbreaks of violence, weak governance, persistent underlying poverty and a lack of basic infrastructure and services – have created a complex humanitarian crisis and prevent the young nation (which gained independence in 2011) from achieving sustainable and equitable peace, resilience and development. The interconnectedness of these dynamics, and the need to approach these problems holistically, is increasingly acknowledged by high-level actors through discussion around the Humanitarian-Development-Peace (HDP) nexus, sometimes called the ‘triple nexus’.4 This brief describes the interconnected problems of the HDP nexus in the context of South Sudan through a focus on flooding. It also has wider relevance to other countries in the region, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan, that are experiencing similar self-reinforcing cycles of humanitarian, peace and developmental crises, exacerbated by floods.6 In particular, the brief describes the multidimensional impacts of flooding on peace, health, livelihoods and governance. The brief also provides an overview of flood response efforts and innovations, and public attitudes towards them. The brief emphasises the need to link short-term humanitarian efforts with longer-term peacebuilding and development efforts through meaningful collaboration between actors working in these often-siloed spaces.
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Lewis, Dustin, Radhika Kapoor, and Naz Modirzadeh. Advancing Humanitarian Commitments in Connection with Countering Terrorism: Exploring a Foundational Reframing concerning the Security Council. Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, December 2021. http://dx.doi.org/10.54813/uzav2714.
Full textAbstract:
The imperative to provide humanitarian and medical services on an urgent basis in armed conflicts is anchored in moral tenets, shared values, and international rules. States spend tens of billions of dollars each year to help implement humanitarian programs in conflicts across the world. Yet, in practice, counterterrorism objectives increasingly prevail over humanitarian concerns, often resulting in devastating effects for civilian populations in need of aid and protection in war. Not least, confusion and misapprehensions about the power and authority of States relative to the United Nations Security Council to set policy preferences and configure legal obligations contribute significantly to this trajectory. In this guide for States, we present a framework to reconfigure relations between these core commitments by assessing the counterterrorism architecture through the lens of impartial humanitarianism. We aim in particular to provide an evidence base and analytical frame for States to better grasp key legal and policy issues related to upholding respect for principled humanitarian action in connection with carrying out the Security Council’s counterterrorism decisions. We do so because the lack of knowledge regarding interpretation and implementation of counterterrorism resolutions matters for the coherence, integrity, and comprehensiveness of humanitarian policymaking and protection of the humanitarian imperative. In addition to analyzing foundational concerns and evaluating discernible behaviors and attitudes, we identify avenues that States may take to help achieve pro-humanitarian objectives. We also endeavor to help disseminate indications of, and catalyze, States’ legally relevant positions and practices on these issues. In section 1, we introduce the guide’s impetus, objectives, target audience, and structure. We also describe the methods that we relied on and articulate definitions for key terms. In section 2, we introduce key legal actors, sources of law, and the notion of international legal responsibility, as well as the relations between international and national law. Notably, Security Council resolutions require incorporation into national law in order to become effective and enforceable by internal administrative and judicial authorities. In section 3, we explain international legal rules relevant to advancing the humanitarian imperative and upholding respect for principled humanitarian action, and we sketch the corresponding roles of humanitarian policies, programs, and donor practices. International humanitarian law (IHL) seeks to ensure — for people who are not, or are no longer, actively participating in hostilities and whose needs are unmet — certain essential supplies, as well as medical care and attention for the wounded and sick. States have also developed and implemented a range of humanitarian policy frameworks to administer principled humanitarian action effectively. Further, States may rely on a number of channels to hold other international actors to account for safeguarding the humanitarian imperative. In section 4, we set out key theoretical and doctrinal elements related to accepting and carrying out the Security Council’s decisions. Decisions of the Security Council may contain (binding) obligations, (non-binding) recommendations, or a combination of the two. UN members are obliged to carry out the Council’s decisions. Member States retain considerable interpretive latitude to implement counterterrorism resolutions. With respect to advancing the humanitarian imperative, we argue that IHL should represent a legal floor for interpreting the Security Council’s decisions and recommendations. In section 5, we describe relevant conduct of the Security Council and States. Under the Resolution 1267 (1999), Resolution 1989 (2011), and Resolution 2253 (2015) line of resolutions, the Security Council has established targeted sanctions as counterterrorism measures. Under the Resolution 1373 (2001) line of resolutions, the Security Council has adopted quasi-“legislative” requirements for how States must counter terrorism in their national systems. Implementation of these sets of resolutions may adversely affect principled humanitarian action in several ways. Meanwhile, for its part, the Security Council has sought to restrict the margin of appreciation of States to determine how to implement these decisions. Yet international law does not demand that these resolutions be interpreted and implemented at the national level by elevating security rationales over policy preferences for principled humanitarian action. Indeed, not least where other fields of international law, such as IHL, may be implicated, States retain significant discretion to interpret and implement these counterterrorism decisions in a manner that advances the humanitarian imperative. States have espoused a range of views on the intersections between safeguarding principled humanitarian action and countering terrorism. Some voice robust support for such action in relation to counterterrorism contexts. A handful call for a “balancing” of the concerns. And some frame respect for the humanitarian imperative in terms of not contradicting counterterrorism objectives. In terms of measures, we identify five categories of potentially relevant national counterterrorism approaches: measures to prevent and suppress support to the people and entities involved in terrorist acts; actions to implement targeted sanctions; measures to prevent and suppress the financing of terrorism; measures to prohibit or restrict terrorism-related travel; and measures that criminalize or impede medical care. Further, through a number of “control dials” that we detect, States calibrate the functional relations between respect for principled humanitarian action and countering terrorism. The bulk of the identified counterterrorism measures and related “control dials” suggests that, to date, States have by and large not prioritized advancing respect for the humanitarian imperative at the national level. Finally, in section 6, we conclude by enumerating core questions that a State may answer to help formulate and instantiate its values, policy commitments, and legal positions to secure respect for principled humanitarian action in relation to counterterrorism contexts.