IHL LW458
International Humanitarian Law LW 458i
Course Outline 2015-2016
LL.M. Programmes - Irish Centre for Human Rights
Objectives
To provide students with an understanding of the different legal regimes of jus
in bello and jus ad bellum.
To provide students with an appreciation of the general principles and laws
that comprise international humanitarian law and to assess how these rules
developed over time.
To evaluate the application of these rules to case studies and scenarios and to
critically analyse how IHL is enforced.
Name
Office
Ext
E-mail
Dr Anita Ferrara
Lecturer
Times
Semester
1
Room 204
ICHR
Day
Wednesday
2097
ANITA.FERRARA@nui
galway.ie
Time
Venue
10-1
Seminar Room, ICHR
Upon completion of this course students will be able to:



Learning
Outcomes
Format
Programme(s)
Course Material
Core Texts
Discuss and evaluate the role and nature of IHL,
Critically examine the historical background to the development of IHL,
Critically examine the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and
Additional Protocols,
 Analyse and discuss the criteria for distinguishing between categories of
conflict,
 Critically examine the rules governing the treatment of combatants and
prisoners of war,
 Explain and apply the rules governing the conduct of hostilities.
 Explain and evaluate the protection of civilians under IHL,
 Discuss and evaluate the relevance of IHL to peace support operations,
 Explain the distinction between international humanitarian law and
international human rights law,
 Discuss the implementation of IHL,
 Apply the relevant principles of IHL to hypothetical scenarios.
There will be one three-hour seminar per week during the semester. Students
are required to read material in advance, and they are encouraged to engage in
debate and discussion of the relevant topics.
LL.M. programmes, full-time and part-time
See Blackboard at: http://blackboard.nuigalway.ie


Chesterman, Civilians in War, Lynne Rienner (2001).
Clapham, The Geneva Conventions - A Commentary, Oxford University
Press (2014).
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
Crawford, The Treatment of Combatants and Insurgents under the Law of
Armed Conflict, Oxford University Press (2010).
 Dinstein, The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed
Conflict, (2nd ed.), Cambridge University Press (2010).
 Dinstein, The Law of Belligerent Occupation, Cambridge University Press
(2009).
 Dörman, Elements of War Crimes under the Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court, Cambridge University Press / ICRC (2002).
 Fleck (ed.), Handbook of Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflict (3rd Ed.)
Oxford University Press (2013).
 Green, The contemporary law of armed conflict (3rd ed.), Manchester
University Press (2008).
 Henckaerts and Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian
Law, Volume 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press / ICRC (2005). (See
also volume 2 on state practice.) available online
www.icrc.org/eng/customary-law.
 ICRC, Commentary,The Geneva Conventions I, II. III, IV of 12 August
1949 and Commentary, Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva
Conventions of 12 August 1949, Martinuus Nijhoff (1987), available
online at: http://www.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/vwTreaties1949.xsp.
 ICRC, Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in
Hostilities under IHL, ICRC (2009), available online at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/review/review-872p991.htm.
 Kalshoven and Zegveld, Constraints on the Waging of War – an
Introduction to International Humanitarian Law (4th ed), Cambridge
University Press (2011).
 Kolb and Hyde. An Introduction to the International Law of Armed
Conflicts, Hart Publishers (2008).
 Kretzmer, The Occupation of Justice – The Supreme Court of Israel and
the Occupied Territories, State University of New York Press (2002).
 Lekha Sriram, Martin-Ortega and Herman, War, Conflict and Human
Rights, Routledge (2010).
 Lubell, Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors, Oxford
University Press (2010).
 Rogers, Law on the Battlefield, (2nd ed.), Manchester University Press
(2004).
 Sassòli and Bouvier, How Does Law Protect in War (Vols. 1, 2 and 3) (3rd
ed.), ICRC (2011) – available online at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/publication/p0739.htm.
 Solis, The Law of Armed Conflict, Cambridge University Press (2010).
 Wolfrum (ed.), Max Planck Encyclopedia of Public International Law,
Oxford University Press (2012) available through the library.
Books:

Supplementary
Texts
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
Austin and Bruch, The Environmental Consequences of War – Legal,
Economic, and Scientific Perspectives, Cambridge University Press
(2000).
Gutman, and Reif, (eds.), Crimes of War (2nd. Ed), Norton and Co. (2007).
Kelly, Restoring and Maintaining Order in Complex Peace Operations,
Kluwer,(1999), Chpts. 6 and 7.
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
Lauterpacht, Oppenheim’s International Law Vol II – Disputes, War and
Neutrality, Longmans (1955).
 Murphy, UN Peacekeeping in Lebanon, Somalia and Kosovo: Legal and
Operational Issues in Context, Cambridge University Press (2007).
 UK Ministry of Defence,The Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict,
Oxford University Press (2004).
 Wills, Protecting Civilians – The Obligations of Peacekeepers, Oxford
University Press (2009).
Web sites:
 www.icrc.org International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and
www.icrc.org/eng/customary-law,
 www.ihlresearch.org; and www.wihl.nl <http://www.wihl.nl/
 Yale Law School – The Avalon Project on Laws of War http://avalon.law.yale.edu/subject_menus/lawwar.asp
 Crimes of War – www.crimesofwar.org.
 U.N. Wire (www.unwire.org) (unique daily news service providing
concise, balanced, and news about world affairs and the UN.)
 Reports from International Crisis Group (IGC) – website:
(www.crisisweb.org)
 Rule of Law in Armed Conflict Project ‘RULAC Project’ –
http://www.geneva-academy.ch/RULAC/index.php
 Uppsala Conflict Data Programme http://www.pcr.uu.se/research/UCDP/
 www.conflictmonitors.org -The Conflict Monitors provide concise and
current information on peace and security issues in Afghanistan and
Pakistan.
United Nations Reports
 Secretary-General’s Bulletin on Observance by UN forces of international
humanitarian law, UN Document ST/SGB/1993/3 of 6 August 1999.
 Report of the Secretary-General pursuant to General Assembly resolution
53/35 - The fall of Srebrenica, General Assembly A/54/549,15 November
1999.
 Minimum Humanitarian Standards, Report of the Secretary-General,
Doc.E/CN.4/1998/8, 5 January 1998.
Assessment
Evaluation is undertaken through the submission of an essay which should
demonstrate significant research, familiarity with the legal framework and
literature, independent thought and critical analysis.
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Course Outline
Topic 1 - Introduction to IHL
The concept and purpose of IHL; Basic concepts and nature of IHL and its relationship to Public
International Law; Historical development and legal basis of IHL; Difference between jus ad
bellum and jus in bello rules.
Required reading:
 History of the ICRC, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/who-we-are/history/index.jsp
 D. Palmieri, “An institution standing the test of time? A review of 150 years of the history of
the International Committee of the Red Cross”, 94 (888) International Review of the Red Cross
(2012) 1273, available at: http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/review/2013/irrc-888palmieri.pdf
 R. Kolb, “Origin of the twin terms jus ad bellum/jus in bello”, available at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jnuu.htm
Further reading
 ICRC, International Humanitarian Law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts,
31st International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Geneva, 2011, available at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/red-cross-crescent-movement/31st-internationalconference/31-int-conference-ihl-challenges-report-11-5-1-2-en.pdf
Topic 2 - Recourse to force under international law
Regulation of the use of force under public international law; ‘Just war’ concept and the
responsibility to protect doctrine; Latest developments on the notion of the crime of aggression in
international law.
Required reading:
 UN Charter, Article 2, and Chapters VI, VII and VIII
 International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), The Responsibility to
Protect, Vols I and II, International Development Research Centre, 2001.
 Any book on International Law and the relevant chapter(s) dealing with the use of force e.g. M.
Shaw, International Law, (5th ed. CUP 2003), chapter 20 ‘International law and the use of force
by states’.
Further reading:
 M. Sassòli & A. Bouvier, How Does Law Protect in War, Geneva: ICRC (2011), Chapter 2.
 C. Greenwood, “International Law and the Pre-emptive Use of Force: Afghanistan, Al-Qaida,
and Iraq” 4 San Diego Int'l L.J. 7 (2003).
 N. Lubell, Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors, Oxford (2010).
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Topic 3 - Scope and Applicability of IHL
Legal regimes governing international and non –international armed conflicts; Criteria for the
categorisation of conflicts; Legal and practical consequences in situations of armed conflict.
Required reading:
 Sylvain Vité, ‘Typology of armed conflicts in international humanitarian law: legal concepts
and actual situations’, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 91 No. 873, March 2009, pp.
69-84. (available online www.icrc.org)
 Dapo Akande, ‘Classification of Armed Conflicts: Relevant Legal Concepts’ (August 20, 2012),
in E. Wilmshurst (ed), International Law and the Classification of Conflicts (OUP 2012)
chapter 3; Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No 50/2012. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2132573
 Tadić Case, (Merits) ICTY, relevant parts of all 3 judgments, http://www.un.org/icty/ see the
sections on classification of the conflict
Further reading:
 Rule of Law in Armed Conflict Project ‘RULAC Project’ – http://www.genevaacademy.ch/RULAC/index.php
 ‘How is the Term ‘Armed Conflict’ Defined in International Humanitarian Law?’, International
Committee of the Red Cross Opinion Paper, March 2008, available online at:
www.cicr.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/armed-conflict-article-170308?opendocument
Topic 4 - Combatants and Prisoners of War: Status and Treatment
General criteria for determining combatant and POW status under IHL, and the regulations
governing the treatment of POW’s.
Required reading:
 K. Watkin, ‘Warriors without rights? Combatants, Unprivileged Belligerents and the Struggle
over Legitimacy’, Occasional Paper Series, Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict
Research, Harvard University (2005), available at:
http://www.hpcrresearch.org/sites/default/files/publications/OccasionalPaper2.pdf
 K. Dörmann , ‘The legal situation of "unlawful/unprivileged combatants", International Review of
the Red Cross, No. 849, (2003), available at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/5lphbv.htm
 Direct Participation in Hostilities, ICRC Geneva, (2009), available at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/publication/p0990.htm
Further reading:
 Ray Murphy, ‘Prisoner of War Status and the Question if the Guantanamo Bay Detainees’,
Human Rights Law Review, Vol. 3 (2004), pp. 257-278.
Topic 5 - International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law
Fields of application of both regimes and the interplay between the different legal regimes.
Required reading:
 Special edition of the IRRC 2014, Multinational Operations and the Law, International
Review of the Red Cross (2014), Vol. 95, No.891/92, 2013.
 F. Hampson & I. Salama, Working paper on the relationship between human rights law and
international humanitarian law, Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human
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

Rights, E/CN.4/Sub.2/2005/14, 21 June 2005, Part 2
N. Lubell, ‘Challenges in Applying Human Rights Law to Armed Conflict’, International
Review of the Red Cross vol.860 (2005). Available at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/review/review-860-p737.htm
Human Rights Committee General Comment 29, States of Emergency and General Comment
31, Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant.
M. Sassòli, and L.M. Olson, ‘The legal relationship between international humanitarian law and
human rights law where it matters: admissible killing and internment of fighters in noninternational armed conflict’, 871 International Review of the Red Cross 90, 2008, pp. 599-627,
available at http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/review/review-871-p599.htm
A. Clapham, ‘Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors in Conflict Situations’,
International Review of the Red Cross Vol.88, No. 863 (2006). Available at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc_863_clapham.pdf
Further reading:
 Las Palmeras Case, Judgment on Preliminary Objections of February 4, 2000, Inter-Am. Ct.
H.R. (Ser. C) No. 67 (2000). http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/iachr/C/67-ing.html
 http://www.genevaacademy.ch/RULAC/interaction_between_humanitarian_law_and_human_rights_in_armed_co
nflicts.php
Topic 6 - War Crimes: Implementation of IHL and the Mechanisms of Justice
War crimes under IHL; Article 8 of the ICC Statute and the elements of the crimes; Implementing
IHL and the role of the ICC and the ad hoc Criminal Tribunals
Required reading:
 K. Dörman, Elements of War Crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court, Cambridge/ICRC (2002).
 Human Rights Watch, Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity – A Topical Digest of
Case Law of the ICTY, Human Rights Watch, New York, 2006.
 J. Pejic, ‘Accountability for International Crimes: from Conjecture to Reality’ International
Review of the Red Cross Vol. 84 No 845, (2002), available at:
http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/013-034_pejic.pdf
Further Reading:
 Cassese, International Criminal Law, Oxford University Press, 2003, pp. 15-63.
Human Rights Watch, Genocide, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity – A Topical Digest of
Case Law of the ICTY, Human Rights Watch, New York, 2006.
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Topic 7 - Conduct of Hostilities: Fundamental Principles of Conduct
Distinction between the Law of The Hague and the Law of Geneva; Framework for the protection
of the civilian population against the effects of hostilities; Concepts of prohibited attacks, civilian
population, military objectives and targets and the principles of distinction and proportionality.
Required reading:
 J.-F. Quéguiner, ‘Precautions under the law governing the conduct of hostilities’, International
Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 88, No. 864, (2006), pp. 793-821, available at
http://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/review/review-864-p793.htm.
 Y. Dienstein, ‘Jus in bello issues arising in the hostilities in Iraq in 2003’, IYHR, Vol 34, 2004,
pp. 1-14.
 M. Sassòli and A. Bouvier, How Does Law Protect in War, Geneva: ICRC (2010), Chapter 9
 Article 48 of Protocol I of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1948 + Commentary on the
Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, Dordercht:
Martinuus Nijhoff (1987), available on the website of the ICRC, www.icrc.org
Further reading:
 Y. Dinstein, The Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict,
Cambridge University Press, 2004.
Topic 8 - Conduct of Hostilities: Weapons
Legal regime governing the use of weapons during armed conflict.
Required reading:
 Declaration of St Petersburg 1868
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
Expert Meeting, AUTONOMOUS WEAPON SYSTEMS TECHNICAL, MILITARY, LEGAL
AND HUMANITARIAN ASPECTS, ICRC Expert Meeting Geneva 26-28 March, 2014 (on
line). TO 28 MARCH 2014
UN Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons
which may be deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to have Indiscriminate Effect, 1981 and
Protocols
Human rights Watch report Fatally Flawed: Cluster Bombs and Their Use by the United States
in Afghanistan (http://hrw.org/reports/2002/us-afghanistan/)
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Final Report to the Prosecutor by
the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, 8 June, 2000.
Further reading:
 United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (‘Goldstone Report’, Human Rights
Council) A/HRC/12/48, 25 September 2009.
 Amnesty International ''Collateral Damage” or Unlawful Killings? Violations of the Laws of
War by NATO during Operation Allied Force
(http://www.amnesty.org/ailib/intcam/kosovo/)Human Rights Watch, Fatal Strikes – Israel’s
Indiscriminate Attacks Against Civilians in Lebanon, Vol. 18, No. 3 (E), August 2006
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Topic 9 - International Human Rights/International humanitarian law and Peace Support
Operations
Rights and obligations of personnel involved in peace support operations; The Convention for the
Protection of UN Personnel, the Secretary-General’s Bulletin on Observance by UN forces of
international humanitarian law.
Required reading:
 N.D. White and K. Klassen (eds.), The UN, human rights and post-conflict situations, Manchester
University Press (2005),
 R. Murphy, ‘United Nations Military Operations and International Humanitarian Law: What Rules
Apply to Peacekeepers?’, Criminal Law Forum – An International Journal, Vol. 14 (2), 2003, pp.
153-194.
 C. Greenwood, ‘IHL and Peace Support Operations’, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law,
Vol. 1, 1998, The Hague: Kluwer (1998), pp. 3-34.
Further reading:
 R. Murphy, UN Peacekeeping in Lebanon, Somalia and Kosovo: Legal and Operational Issues in
Context, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
 Commentary, The Geneva Conventions I, II. III, IV of 12 August 1949, Geneva: ICRC (Four separate
volumes - paperback reprints 1994/1995).
 Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August
1949, Dordercht: Martinuus Nijhoff, (1987).
 Dishonoured Legacy, Report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Deployment of Canadian Forces
to Somalia , Canadian Government Publishing, Ottawa, 1997.
 M. Katayanagi, Human Rights of United Nations Peacekeeping, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, (2002).
Topic 10- Contemporary Challenges to International Humanitarian Law
Required reading:
 ICRC website: www.icrc.org/eng/war-and-law/contemporary-challengesfor-ihl/index.jsp
 Australian Red Cross. "The Changing Face of Warfare in the 21st Century." International
Humanitarian Law Magazine. 2012 at
http://www.redcross.org.au/files/IHL_Magazine_Issue_1_2012.pdf
 Bellal, Annyssa, and Stuart Casey-Malsen. "Enhancing Compliance with International Law by Armed
Non-State Actors ." Goettingen Journal of International Law 3, (2011): 175-197.
 DCAF, Geneva Call. "Armed Non-State Actors: Current Trends & Future Challenges." The Geneva
Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces. 2011. http://www.dcaf.ch/Publications/ArmedNon-State-Actors-Current-Trends-FutureChallenges
Further reading:
 ICRC Report: www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/red-cross-crescentmovement/31st-internationalconference/31-int-conference-ihlchallenges-report-11-5-1-2-en.pdf
 ICRC President Statement on the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions:
www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/statement/genevaconvention-statement-091109.htm
 International Review of the Red Cross, 2010, No. 878 – Urban Violence:
www.icrc.org/eng/resources/international-review/review-878-urbanviolence/review-878-all.pdf
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