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Humanitarian standards for internal strife — A brief review of new developments

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

Hans-Peter Gasser
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Extract

In his book “A Memory of Solferino”, Henry Dunant set out two proposals for action on the international level to alleviate the suffering of war victims: the first was to have governments adopt an international treaty to be respected in time of war, and the second was to establish an organizational framework for ensuring compliance with such international obligations. Dunant seemed to realize that only the combination of international, treaty-based obligations and an organization to implement them could induce governments to act in the way he wished. The outcome of his proposals was of course the adoption of the Geneva Convention of 1864 on the one hand, and the founding of the Red Cross Movement on the other.

Type
Internal Violence
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 33 , Issue 294 , June 1993 , pp. 221 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1993

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References

1 The expression used in Article 1, para. 2, of Protocol II additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

2 In particular Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, and Additional Protocol II.

3 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Article 4; European Convention on Human Rights, Article 15; and American Convention on Human Rights, Article 27.

4 See this issue of the IRRC, pp. 195–220.Google Scholar

5 See in particular “ICRC Protection and Assistance Activities in Situations not Covered by International Humanitarian Law”, IRRC, No. 262, 01–02 1988. pp. 9–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Meron, Theodor, “Draft Model Declaration on Internal Strife”, IRRC. No. 262, 01–02 1988, pp. 59–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

7 Ibid., p. 61.

8 Gasser, Hans-Peter, “A measure of humanity in internal disturbances and tensions: proposal for a Code of Conduct”, IRRC, No. 262, 01–02 1988, pp. 38–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 For a brief look at the ICRC's position on the initiative, see ibid., p. 47 ff.

10 Published in 5 Mennesker og Rettigheter (Nordic Journal on Human Rights), 1987, pp. 2–4 Google Scholar.

11 See “Declaration of Minimum Humanitarian Standards”, Institute for Human Rights, Abo Akademi University, Turku/Abo, 1991. Also published by Meron, Theodor and Rosas, Allan in 85 American Journal of International Law, 1991, pp. 375–381 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, with useful references to related materials and documents.

12 Gasser, Hans-Peter, “New Draft Declaration of Minimum Humanitarian Standards”, IRRC, No. 282, 05–06 1991, pp. 328–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 International Court of Justice, Reports of Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders. Case concerning military and paramilitary activities in and against Nicaragua, Merits, p. 114, para. 218.

14 Siracusa Principles on the Limitation and Derogation Provisions in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1984), UN doc. E/CN.4/1984/4, and 7 Human Rights Quarterly, 1985, pp. 3–14.Google Scholar

15 Paris Minimum Standards of Human Rights Norms in a State of Emergency (1984), International Law Association, Report of the Sixty-first Conference (1984); also published in 79 American Journal of International Law, 1985, pp. 1072–1081.

16 E/CN.4/Sub.2/1991/55 of 12 August 1991.

17 Decision 1991/55 of 29 August 1991.

18 Doc. A/47/352 of 21 August 1992.

19 Document of the Moscow meeting of the Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE, of 3 October 1991, published in 30 ILM, 1991, p. 1670. See in particular para. (28).

20 Para. (28.7).

21 Rosas, Allan, “International controls of internal conflicts”Google Scholar in: Current problems of international humanitarian law, Finnish Red Cross and Abo Akademi Institute for Human Rights, p. 6(1992).