Corporate actors are taking on an increasingly significant role in the prosecution of modern warfare. Traditionally, an analysis of the law applicable to corporate actors in armed conflict commences with inquiry into the law as it applies to mercenaries. As such, the rise of the private military industry invites a reconsideration of the conventional approach to mercenaries under international law. This article critically surveys the conventional law as it applies to mercenaries, and considers the extent to which corporate actors might meet the legal definitions of a “mercenary”. It demonstrates that even mercenaries receive protection under international humanitarian law.

The gradual process of state failure is commonly accompanied by armed violence. Apart from occasional outbreaks, armed violence in fragile states tends to smoulder with relatively low intensity, often over an extended period of time. The actual level of violence may oscillate around the level of violence that is commonly accepted as triggering the application of international humanitarian law (IHL). In addition, because of the specific objectives typically – though not necessarily always – pursued by armed groups in failed state conflict scenarios, cross-border spillover effects are fairly frequent. The qualification of armed violence in such scenarios according to the conflict categories laid down in IHL thus raises some rather specific issues. Moreover, weak states, failing states, and ultimately failed states are increasingly perceived as a key threat to international security. States seem increasingly inclined to assume sporadic order maintenance functions in the place of disabled governments so as to maintain the perceived security threat at a tolerable level. Current efforts to repress acts of piracy off the coast of Somalia are an evident case in point. Since the Security Council, in Resolution 1851, at least implied the possibility of applying IHL in that specific context, the application of this legal regime to sporadic law enforcement operations by third parties also demands further scrutiny.

This article seeks to explain how the ICRC – the oldest international humanitarian organization still in activity – has managed to pass through 150 years of existence. By analysing some key moments in ICRC history and by examining both its inner workings and their interaction with the context within which the organization has functioned over time, this article finds two characteristics that may help explain the ICRC's continuity: its unique specificity and its innovative capacity.

The topic of participation of armed groups in the development of legal instruments binding them is particularly important and needs to be addressed urgently. Many scholars and organizations have advocated recently for the participation of armed groups in the development of legal instruments binding them, with a view to ensuring their adhesion to the law. However, practical and legal considerations seem to make this participation extremely difficult in practice. Creative solutions have to be found. After reviewing five main reasons why armed groups should be involved in the advancement of the law governing armed conflicts, this article offers a brief overview of selected means by which armed groups should be engaged in the creation of future norms, as well as in the interpretation and contextualization of existing norms.

La création de zones protégées est un moyen de mettre la population civile à l'abri des hostilités. Cet article examine le régime juridique de la création et du contrôle de zones protégées lors des opérations de paix des Nations Unies. L'auteur se penche sur le droit international et la pratique des États dans les cas où les forces des Nations Unies ont, en application du Chapitre VII de la Charte, établi et contrôlé des zones protégées, sans le consentement de certaines ou de l'ensemble des parties au conflit. Il étudie en outre les éléments juridiques, sur lesquels se fondent les forces des Nations Unies pour créer et contrôler des zones protégées, alors qu'aucun mandat ne leur a été explicitement donné. L'auteur conclut que les casques bleus peuvent, dans certaines circonstances, être juridiquement fondés à agir de la sorte même s'ils n'ont pas un mandat explicite du Conseil de sécurité.

From time to time, States are affected by outbreaks of internal violence. Such upheavals are usually referred to as internal disturbances or tensions, disorders, states of emergency, revolutions or insurrections. These expressions all refer to situations that appear contrary to justice, order, stability and internal peace. There have been many examples of the kind in the past, and we know from the media that they continue to occur. Almost every nation in the world has a history marked by periods of insecurity and protest accompanied by outbreaks of violence.

The International Review of the Red Cross published in August 1957 a study concerning reservations to the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the protection of war victims. At that time a total of 66 States were bound by the Conventions and 18 of them had expressed their accession subject to reservations. In July 1965, the Review published an additional study on the same subject. At that date, the number of States bound by the Conventions had increased to a total of 106; of these, 20 had expressed reservations.

From 2011 to 2014, the Human Rights Center at the UC Berkeley School of Law conducted qualitative research in Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda to identify accountability mechanisms and challenges related to sexual violence committed during periods of conflict or political unrest. This article shares two aspects of that research: first, it presents key challenges related to the investigation, prosecution and adjudication of sexual violence committed during and after the periods of recent conflict. Second, it flags the emergence of specialized units tasked with investigating and prosecuting either sexual and gender-based violence or international crimes, noting the operational gap between these institutions. It notes that if not bridged, this gap may impede responses for the intersecting issue of sexual violence committed as an international crime. The article closes with recommendations for a more coordinated response and more accountability at the domestic level.

In a globalizing world marked by geopolitical upheaval, unprecedented threats to human security, new forms of violence and technological revolutions, particularly in the area of information technology, it is no simple task to raise awareness of international humanitarian law (IHL) applicable to armed conflict and ensure that warring parties comply with this body of law. This article traces the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) work in promoting IHL from 1864 to the present, juxtaposing this history with important events in international relations and with the organization's (sometimes traumatizing) experiences that ultimately gave rise to innovative programmes. The article summarizes lively debates that took place at the ICRC around such topics as the place of ethics in the promotion of IHL, respect for cultural diversity in the various methods used to promote this body of law, and how much attention should be devoted to youth – as well as the most effective way to do so. The author concludes by sharing her personal views on the best way to promote IHL in the future by drawing on the lessons of the past.

A survey of contemporary armed conflicts indicates that major military powers are increasingly facing militarily weaker adversaries and being drawn into unconventional engagements in cities, towns, and villages. Given the asymmetry of military capabilities in such conflicts, it is submitted that higher standards of reasonableness be imposed upon military commanders of major military powers to ensure constant care for civilian populations, and furthermore that civilian populations be spared more effectively from the effects of urban warfare by applying customary law ab initio, in order to avoid gaps in protection that may arise from the premature classification of armed conflicts.

The article studies the public communication strategies of large humanitarian NGOs as well as UN organizations with regard to the humanitarian principles. It shows that different strategies concerning impartiality vs. solidarity and independence vs. subcontracting cause a wide diversity of humanitarian positions, which lead to different types of public communication strategies. It also discusses several recent trends and three scenarios concerning humanitarian public communication, focusing on interaction with donors and the military, as well as the security situation on the ground. The article concludes that it is essential for humanitarian organizations to understand the different interpretations of the humanitarian principles and that this will help in establishing a strategic approach toward public communication at headquarters, as well as in the field.

This research examines the impact on health-care provision of advanced state failure and of the violence frequently associated with it, drawing from six country case studies. In all contexts, the coverage and scope of health services change when the state fails. Human resources expand due to unplanned increased production. Injury, threat, death, displacement, migration, insufficient salaries, and degraded skills all impact on performance. Dwindling public domestic funding for health causes increasing household out-of-pocket expenditure. The supply, quality control, distribution, and utilisation of medicines are severely affected. Health information becomes incomplete and unreliable. Leadership and planning are compromised as international agencies pursue their own agendas, frequently disconnected from local dynamics. Yet beyond the state these arenas are crowded with autonomous health actors, who respond to state withdrawal and structural violence in assorted ways, from the harmful to the beneficial. Integrating these existing resources into a cohesive health system calls for a deeper understanding of this pluralism, initiative, adaptation and innovation, and a long-term reorientation of development assistance in order to engage them effectively.

L'auteur de cet article s'intéresse au concept de la neutralité de l'action humanitaire. Il examine les tensions qui peuvent surgir entre la théorie et la pratique, et pose un regard particulier sur la position du CICR. La neutralité, au sens des Principes fondamentaux du Mouvement international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge, impose le devoir de »s'abstenir de prendre part aux hostilités et, en tout temps, aux controverses d'ordre politique, racial, religieux et idéologique«. Le CICR a toujours poursuivi cette ligne de conduite qu'il considère fondamentale pour le succès de son activité humanitaire, même si pour d'autres la neutralité est un obstacle. L'auteur constate que l'usage que le CICR fait de ce principe est en fait plus dynamique et politiquement plus fin qu'on ne le pense généralement. Une réflexion permanente sur le concept clé de la neutralité est nécessaire, mais il ne faut pas oublier que ce qui est bon pour le CICR ne l'est pas nécessairement pour d'autres organisations internationales, qu'elles soient gouvernementales ou non.

For some decades now, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has periodically undertaken the difficult task of reassessing its policy in respect of situations of internal violence. Since 1872, when it made its first offer of services to the parties to a non-international armed conflict, and 1918, when it carried out its first visit to security detainees, the ICRC has accumulated a wealth of experience. During that time it has gradually extended its mandate to cover situations in which human suffering called for action on its part which it would not have contemplated a few years previously.

On 30 October 1997, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (hereafter the Commission) adopted its report in the so-called Tablada case. The case concerned an attack launched by 42 armed persons on military barracks of the national armed forces in 1989 at La Tablada, Argentina. The attack precipitated a battle lasting approximately 30 hours and resulting in the deaths of 29 of the attackers and several State agents. The surviving attackers filed a complaint with the Commission alleging violations by State agents of the American Convention on Human Rights (hereafter the American Convention) and of rules of international humanitarian law. In its report the Commission examined in detail whether it was competent to apply international humanitarian law directly. It answered this question in the affirmative.

The relationship between international environmental law and international humanitarian law, like relationships between many other subsystems of contemporary international law, has not yet been articulated. The problem of environmental damage in international armed conflict lies at the intersection of these two branches and thus provides an ideal opportunity to investigate this relationship. Rather than simply evaluating the applicable international law rules in their context, we break them into elements that we separately assess from both (international) environmental law and international humanitarian/international criminal law perspectives. By doing so, we identify how international law rules for cross-sectoral problems may appropriately combine the existing expertise and institutional strengths of simultaneously applicable branches of international law, and also discover how an evaluation of the ultimate appropriateness of the cross-sectoral rules adopted may be substantially affected by the different frames of reference that are used by those working within the different fields.