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Teaching international humanitarian law in universities: the contribution of the International Committee of the Red Cross1
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
Extract
Although the promotion of international humanitarian law (IHL) in academic circles is a relatively new activity for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), it has made rapid progress since the mid 1990s. Today, the organisation is following up on university-related activities in some 130 countries around the world. Overseen and harmonised by the ICRC headquarters in Geneva but implemented primarily by operational and regional delegations in the field, the ICRC's programmes targeting university professors and students are notable for their variety and diversity. Nevertheless, the organisation has made a concerted effort to ensure that all such programmes further the same broad objective and operate according to the same principles of action. In the second section of this paper, we examine the issues related to including IHL courses in the regular curricula of the universities and faculties concerned and present the modus operandi adopted by the ICRC on the basis of ‘lessons learned’. In the third section, we highlight the ICRC's experience of promoting IHL in academic circles in the Russian Federation. Section 4 draws some conclusions.
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- Copyright © T.M.C. Asser Instituut and the Authors 2002
References
3. Academic circles have long been important contacts and partners for the ICRC. However, in the 1990s, the organisation began to intensify and systematise its activities targeting university professors and students.
4. These activities aim to ensure that all levels of armed forces and police and security forces know and apply IHL and human rights law and that other armed groups support humanitarian action.
5. The ICRC has launched two large-scale programmes for young people in educational settings since the mid 1990s: the secondary school programme for countries of the former Soviet Union and the Exploring Humanitarian Law programme. The objective of these programmes is to familiarise young people with the notion of human dignity and the rules and principles of IHL and humanitarian action.
6. The goal of this programme is to reduce the number of mine and ERW casualties by changing behaviour and promoting alternative, long-term solutions.
7. Art. 47, First Geneva Convention. See generally Arts. 47, 48, 49 and 144 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, Art. 83 of the First Additional Protocol and Art. 19 of the Second Additional Protocol.
8. The 2001 guidelines provide in relevant part: ‘In order to establish a sound teaching and research tradition in the field of IHL, students at universities and colleges that train future decision-makers and are targeted by the ICRC must be aware of the existence of IHL, understand its practical relevance and have a thorough knowledge of its basic principles. They must be familiar with the ICRC's activities and operating principles.’
9. . In identifying such universities, an effort to avoid making ‘political’ choices must be made.
10. For a more thorough analysis of the factors supporting the training of IHL, see Sassòli, M. and Bouvier, A.A., How does Law Protect in War? (Geneva, ICRC 1999) pp. 1451–1453Google Scholar.
11. For a more detailed analysis of teaching methodologies, see Martin, P.J., Human Rights Education: Content and Methodologies in a Nutshell (New York, Columbia University 2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. <http://www. owner-hr-education@rea.org.>; M.T. Ladan, ‘Issues in Curriculum Development of IHL’, Paper Presented at Workshop on IHL Teaching and Research in Nigeria, Abuja, 2 December 2002; Georges, J.A. and Richard, P.C., eds., Human Rights Education for the 21st Century (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press 1997)Google Scholar and Sassòli and Bouvier, ibid.
12. Such a course has been organised for over 20 years in Warsaw, Poland, for English-speaking students from Europe and North America. The same course has been held in French for more than 15 years. Similar courses are now offered on a regular basis in Africa, South Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
13. See <http://www.un.org>.
14. The Standard IHL Library contains over 80 titles, including relevant treaties and analytical texts.
15. Priority was generally given to ‘economically profitable’ subjects.
16. In addition to the Russian Federation, the CIS comprises all of the former Soviet republics except the three Baltic States: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
17. In the Russian Federation, students can obtain a university degree in one of two ways. The first option consists of two stages: the bachelor's level and the master's level. The second possibility is not divided into stages, and students obtain a specialist degree upon completion of their course of study. After obtaining a university degree, students can continue on to obtain a candidate of sciences degree, which is roughly equivalent to a Ph.D, or a doctor of sciences degree.
18. In addition to the Russian Federation, IHL is also included in the State Educational Standards for Higher Education in Belarus. At present, there are no State Educational Standards for Higher Education in other CIS countries.
19. In 2000, for example, the ICRC translated ProfessorDavid, Eric's book, Principes de Droit des conflits armés (Brussels, Bruylant 1999)Google Scholar and distributed it widely.
20. For example, in 1997 the ICRC provided financial assistance to the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the publication of ProfessorPustogarov, V.V.'s book, Fedor-Fedorovich Martens: Lawyer, Diplomat [Russian title: Fedor Fedorovich Martens: jurist, diplomat] (Moscow, Meždunarodnyie Otnošenija 1999)Google Scholar. More recently, the ICRC purchased copies of I.I. Kotlyarov's publication, International Law in Armed Conflict [Russian title: Mezhdunarodnoye Gumani-tarnoye Pravo] (Moscow, Yurlitinform 2003)Google Scholar, which is the most comprehensive IHL textbook published in Russian to date, for distribution to universities around the country.
21. The winners would be selected in December 2003, after a second round of competition, and the best works would subsequently be published.
22. Given the vast number of universities in the Russian Federation, collaborating with an umbrella association such as the RAIL should facilitate the task of maintaining regular and permanent contact with academic institutions. Moreover, by cooperating with an association, rather than a specific university, the ICRC will not be perceived as developing a privileged relationship with a particular academic institution.
23. The ICRC set up its Advisory Service on International Humanitarian Law in 1996 to step up its support to states committed to implementing IHL. Its three main priorities are: to encourage ratification of IHL treaties; to promote national implementation of the obligations arising from those treaties; and to collect and facilitate the exchange of information on national implementation measures. The Moscow delegation's Advisory Service programme was launched in 1996 and initially covered all of the countries of the former Soviet Union. In 2001, the Baltic States were attached to the ICRC delegation in Budapest, and in 2002, the Central Asian States were attached to the Tashkent delegation.
24. The holding of separate events was initially justified. Courses for state officials focused largely on specific issues of ‘implementation’, such as the repression of war crimes and the law on the protection of the red cross and red crescent emblems. The training courses for professors concentrated on general IHL issues.