Tous les auteurs qui se sont occupés, depuis la dernière guerre, de l'emploi des gaz de combat, sont unanimes à déclarer que la guerre chimique jouera indubitablement, dans les conflits futurs, non seulement un rôle considérable, mais décisif. Là, comme partout ailleurs, il serait vain de s'indigner de ce que l'on ne peut empêcher, mais il serait coupable de ne pas faire tout ce qui est en notre pouvoir pour nous mettre en garde contre cette terrible menace.

It is necessary, first of all, to define what is understood here by the expression “reuniting of families”.

In this article, the term is used in a narrow sense. It refers to the humanitarian protection given, on an international plane, for the reuniting of the members of one and the same family, who have been separated from each other against their will, as a result of external events—international wars, civil wars, internal disturbances, grave political tension—and who have ended up in different countries on either side of a frontier which they find impossible to cross. In most cases, the difficulties involved for such persons to obtain permits allowing them to leave a particular country and enter another are practically insurmountable. It is such persons who are referred to here and it is to them that the ICRC endeavours to bring its assistance.

International humanitarian law and human rights law share a common goal, namely to protect the individual and to ensure respect for human dignity. Yet these two branches of international public law each have their own characteristics and origins and have evolved in different ways.

Nevertheless, the troubled aftermath of the Second World War, the unchecked rise of violence and poverty in recent decades and the resulting need for improved protection of the ever-growing number of victims of violations of fundamental human rights have all contributed not only to the evolution of the two branches of law but also to their convergence, like “two poor crutches on which disarmed victims can lean simultaneously”, to quote an expressive image by Karel Vasak. This expert went so far as to estimate in 1984 that “the convergence of the two branches has led to an overlapping both on paper and, increasingly, in practice as well”.

A l'heure où le dixième anniversaire de la Convention sur l'interdiction et la limitation de l'emploi de certaines armes classiques qui peuvent çtre considérées comme produisant des effets traumatiques excessifs ou comme frappant sans discrimination, adoptée le 10 octobre 1980 (ci-après: la Convention de 1980), marque le progrès réalisé par ce traité dans le domaine des limites que la norme fixe aux souffrances de la guerre, nous assistons, paradoxalement, à un nombre croissant de situations qui échappent, formellement tout au moins, à son application. II s'agit des conflits armés de caractère non international.

Rara vez los debates originados por lo que algunos califican de derecho o de deber de injerencia, vinculándolo posteriormente al concepto de derecho de asistencia, han dado a las cuestiones humanitarias tal publicidad. A diferentes niveles de comprensión, el público en general, los medios de comunicación y los juristas especializados se han apasionado por esta cuestión; incluso han llegado a encararse.

En el fondo no es una mala cosa, porque estas pasiones no dejan indiferentes a los Gobiernos y así se puede avanzar en el ámbito humanitario. De hecho, es indiscutible que se han planteado, y aún se plantean, importantes cuestiones.

S. Exc. M. le Dr Abbas Naficy, vice-président du Lion et Soleil Rouges de I'Iran, ancien ministre, a bien voulu rédiger pour la Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge l'article qu'on va lire et qui, par son titre et son inspiration, constitue une suite aux études que notre Revue a consacrées précédemment à l'idéal humanitaire dans les diverses civilisations.

Le Dr Naficy est particulièrement qualifié pour traiter ce sujet, puisque sa carriére de médecin et ses fonctions de professeur de médecine à Téhéran l'ont maintenu sans cesse en présence de la souffrance humaine, de même que son activité féconde au sein du Lion et Soleil Rouges, cette Société qu'inspire, on le sait, de sa sollicitude, S. A. I. la Princesse Chams Pahlavi, présidente d'honneur. (N.d.l.R.)

L'adhésion toujours croissante de nouveaux membres au Conseil de l'Europe, ainsi que l'augmentation simultanée du nombre d'États parties à la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme, promet de poser des défis inédits à la nouvelle Cour européenne des droits de l'homme — institution unique qui siégera en permanence à Strasbourg à compter du 1er novembre 1998. Diverses théories existent quant au type de défis que cette nouvelle Cour devra relever. Il en est une toutefois dont on ne peut pas faire abstraction et selon laquelle la Cour devra probablement traiter un plus grand nombre d'affaires résultant de situations de conflit. Le juge Jambrek, en préconisant la retenue et le conservatisme judiciaires dans une opinion dissidente qu'il a émise, a attiré l'attention sur le fait que la Cour pourrait avoir à se pencher sur les événements qui se sont déroulés dans la région croate de la Kraijna, en République Srpska, ainsi que dans d'autres parties de la Bosnie-Herzégovine ou en Tchétchénie.

In ratifying the 1977 Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, Sweden pledged to inform and instruct the authorities responsible for the country's policy of “total defence” and their personnel, as well as the civilian population, on the rules of international law.

For more than 30 years the codification of state responsibility has been the main task of the International Law Commission, which has placed greater emphasis on financial reparations than on criminal sanctions. Since the 1990s, however, the responsibility of individuals for gross violations of humanitarian law has been one of the main topics in international law. This new approach implies discrepancies between domestic practice and international case law in terms of the nature and scale of sanctions, the role of victims and also the accountability of non-state entities, including private companies and international organizations.

It comes natural these days to associate the concept of solidarity with the universality of the work of the Red Cross. Serving the same ideal, respecting the same principles, carrying out similar activities, Red Cross Societies are linked to each other and belong, as it were, to a single body, the International Red Cross.

The solidarity, born of the very structure of the Red Cross movement, is also a powerful incentive, for it manifests itself in the active co-operation of all Red Cross members for the benefit of the whole. The urge which Red Cross men and Societies have to help each other beyond national boundaries has become so strong over the years that it is not too presumptuous to adopt it as a Red Cross principle. By giving the concept of charity a universal dimension for the benefit of suffering mankind, solidarity is akin to the principles of humanity and universality of which it is both the emanation and the moving force.

Among the increasingly frequent acts of non-compliance with, and grievous violations of, international humanitarian law around the world, especially in non-international armed conflicts, attacks on objects and persons enjoying special protection, and their abuse, as well as the misuse of the distinctive emblems of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, come as no surprise. Although a repressive approach to the problem – through the prosecution and punishment of perpetrators – cannot completely prevent such occurrences, an effective and appropriate judicial stigmatisation can significantly contribute to making them as rare as possible. In this regard, the court proceedings held before the War Crimes Chamber in Belgrade and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague in connection with the events in and around the Vukovar Hospital and Ovčara farm have provided an appropriate judicial response. This is notwithstanding the fact that, at least for now, not all perpetrators have been prosecuted for their acts (or failure to act) at the time of the commission of these grave crimes.