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How international humanitarian law develops: Towards an ever-greater humanization? An interview with Theodor Meron

Oxford University and NYU (emeritus) and past Judge and President of UN War Crimes Tribunals

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2022

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Abstract

Theodor Meron has been a Judge and, between March 2012 and January 2019, was the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (the Mechanism). He was also a Judge of the Appeals Chambers of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from November 2011 until the closure of those tribunals. He served a total of four terms as President of the ICTY and three terms as President of the Mechanism. A leading scholar of international humanitarian law, human rights and international criminal law, Judge Meron is the author of thirteen books on international law and chivalry in Shakespeare and more than 100 articles, including some of the books and articles that helped build the legal foundations for the international criminal tribunals. His most recent book is Standing up for Justice (Oxford University Press, 2021).

He is a member of the Institute of International Law and of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of numerous awards, honours and medals, such as the Hudson Medal (American Society of International Law) and the Haskins Prize (American Council of Learned Societies). He is also an Officer of the French Legion of Honour, Grand Officer of the French National Order of Merit, Officer of the Order of Merit of Poland and Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George (United Kingdom). A past honorary President of the American Society of International Law and past Editor-in-Chief of the American Journal of International Law and Visiting Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, he is Charles L. Denison Professor of Law Emeritus at NYU Law School and, since 2014, a Visiting Professor of Law at Oxford University. He is a Visiting Fellow at Mansfield College, an Academic Associate of the Bonavero Human Rights Institute and an Honorary Fellow at Trinity College.

Type
Interview
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 104 , Issue 920-921: How International Humanitarian Law Develops , August 2022 , pp. 1523 - 1560
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC

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Footnotes

Interview conducted by Bruno Demeyere, Editor-in-Chief of the Review. Thanks to Ash Stanley-Ryan, Harriet Macey, Lea Redae and Meera Nayak for their research assistance in the preparation of this interview.

References

1 Meron, Theodor, “The Humanization of Humanitarian Law”, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 94, No. 2, 2000CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Meron, Theodor, “International Criminalization of Internal Atrocities”, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 89, No. 3, 1995CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Theodor Meron, “International Law in the Age of Human Rights: General Course on Public International Law”, Hague Academy of International Law, 2003; Theodor Meron, “The Humanization of International Law”, Hague Academy of International Law General Course, 2006.

2 Part II of the Protocol.

3 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Duško Tadić, Case No. IT-94-1-AR72, Decision (Appeals Chamber), 2 October 1995.

4 Ibid., paras 94–109.

5 Official Records of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable to Armed Conflicts, Geneva 1974–1977, Summary Record of the 56th Plenary Meeting, CGGH/SR/56, 8 June 1977, para. 63.

6 T. Meron, “International Criminalization of Internal Atrocities”, above note 1.

7 Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005 (ICRC Customary Law Study), available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1 (all internet references were accessed in October 2022). The Study is freely available online, and its sources are regularly updated in cooperation with the Lauterpacht Centre.

8 Meron, Theodor, Human Rights Law-Making in the United Nations, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1986, p. 106CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 Meron, Theodor, “Extraterritoriality of Human Rights Treaties”, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 98, No. 1, 1995Google Scholar.

10 ICJ, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, No. 131, 9 July 2004.

11 See particularly the discussion of common Article 3 in the Commentaries.

12 ICRC, Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention: Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 2nd ed., Geneva, 2020 (2020 Commentary on GC III), paras 102–104.

13 ICRC, Commentary on the First Geneva Convention: Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, 2nd ed., Geneva, 2016 (2016 Commentary on GC I), para. 547.

14 HRC Res. 5/1, “Institution-Building of the United Nations Human Rights Council”, 18 June 2007, Annex I: Universal Periodic Review Mechanism, para. 2.

15 Human Rights Council, “International Commissions of Inquiry, Commissions on Human Rights, Fact-Finding missions and Other Investigations”, available at: www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/co-is.

16 Twenty-First Report of the Secretary-General on the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UN Doc. S/2006/390, 13 June 2006, para. 54.

17 See ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Dragoljub Kunarac et al., Case Nos IT-96-23, IT-96-23/1-A, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 12 June 2002, para. 128, available at: www.icty.org/x/cases/kunarac/acjug/en/kun-aj020612e.pdf.

18 Ibid., paras 125–133.

19 ICTR, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber I), 2 September 1998.

20 See the ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 7.

21 2020 Commentary on GC III, above note 12, paras 578–583.

22 GC IV, Art. 147.

23 Jean Pictet (ed.), Commentary on the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Vol. 4: Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, ICRC, Geneva, 1958 (1958 Commentary on GC IV), p. 47.

24 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Ivica Rajić aka Viktor Andrić, Case No. IT-95-12, Review of the Indictment Pursuant to Rule 61 of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (Trial Chamber), 13 September 1996, para. 37.

25 ICTY, Tadić, above note 3, para. 164.

26 Ibid., para. 165.

27 Ibid., para. 166.

28 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Tihomir Blaškić, Case No. IT-95-14, Decision (Trial Chamber), 3 March 2000, para. 144.

29 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Jadranko Prlić et al., Case No. IT-04-74, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 29 November 2017, para. 359.

30 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Zejnil Delalić et al., Case No. IT-96-21, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 16 November 1998, para. 266.

31 Ibid.

32 ICC, The Prosecutor v. Germain Katanga and Matheiu Ngudjolo Chui, Case No. ICC-01/04-01/07, Decision on the Confirmation of Charges (Pre-Trial Chamber I), 30 September 2008, paras 289–293.

33 Jean Pictet (ed.), Commentary on the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Vol. 1: Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, ICRC, Geneva, 1952 (1952 Commentary on GC I), pp. 28–29.

34 Ibid., p. 71.

35 1958 Commentary on GC IV, above note 23, p. 83.

36 1952 Commentary on GC I, above note 33, pp. 79–80.

37 2020 Commentary on GC III, above note 12, paras 4467–4473.

38 ICTR, The Prosecutor v. Laurent Semanza, Case No. ICTR-97-20-T, Judgment and Sentence (Trial Chamber III), 15 May 2003, para. 522.

39 See ICCPR, Art. 15.

40 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Zejnil Delalić et al., Case No. IT-96-21-A, Judgment (Appeals Chamber), 20 February 2001, paras 141, 149–150.

41 Report of the Secretary-General Pursuant to Paragraph 2 of the Security Council Resolution 808 (1993), UN Doc. S/25704, 3 May 1993, para. 106.

42 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Blagoje Simić et al., Case No. IT-95-9-T, Judgment (Trial Chamber II), 17 October 2003, para 57.

43 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Zoran Kupreškić et al., Case No. IT 95-16, Judgment (Trial Chamber), 14 January 2000, para. 618.

44 T. Meron, “The Humanization of Humanitarian Law”, above note 1, pp. 273–275.

45 Fundamental Standards of Humanity: Report of the Secretary-General, UN Doc. A/HRC/8/14, 3 June 2008, para. 39.