UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
2 April 2020
In the past years, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has been increasingly dealing with international humanitarian law (IHL) via either specific debates or thematic and/or country resolutions.
‘Compared to other thematic issues such as the rule of law or individual criminal accountability, little attention has been paid to the consistency – or lack thereof – of the UNSC’s practice in relation to this legal framework’ underlines Emilie Max, former Researcher at the Geneva Academy.
‘Similarly, the prevailing discourse on the UNSC's dynamics tends to only focus on the organ’s five permanent members to the exclusion of the other members, the so-called ‘E10’’ she adds.
Our new research project precisely aims at critically assessing this trend. Resulting from traditional legal research and informal interviews with over 30 experts (scholars, diplomats, as well as representatives of the United Nations, NGOs and relevant international organizations), it will analyse how the UNSC has recently dealt with IHL and formulate a series of recommendations to policy-makers working with this organ to ensure consistency in addressing IHL issues.
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Said Condo Ndoli is the Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sub-delegation in Timbuktu, Mali and graduated from our Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict in 2021.
News
Olivier Chamard/Geneva Academy
Professor Sassòli was in charge of the IHL part of the report that was presented on 13 April by the three experts to the OSCE Permanent Council.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, will cover the ‘nuts and bolts’ of implementation, including national legislation, dissemination and training, and discuss the mechanisms such as the International Fact-Finding Commission, as set out in the treaties.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, discusses the protection offered by international humanitarian law (IHL) in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) and addresses some problems and controversies specific to IHL of NIACs, including the difficulty to ensure the respect of IHL by armed non-state actors.
Project
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe
Project
The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project (RULAC) is a unique online portal that identifies and classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). It is primarily a legal reference source for a broad audience, including non-specialists, interested in issues surrounding the classification of armed conflicts under IHL.
Publication