ALMA Newsletter - February 2017
Dear friends,
Welcome to our February issue of the ALMA Newsletter, which includes the most recent news, updates and developments in International Humanitarian Law (IHL).
In this issue we would like to draw your attention to two very interesting IHL related special projects: the Chatham House's "Interplay between sanctions, counter-terrorism measures and humanitarian action" and the Geneva Academy's "Rule of Law in Armed Conflict". You can find more information and relevant links in the "Special Projects" section of this newsletter.
As always, you are welcome to keep in touch via our Facebook page and twitter. In order to subscribe to our mailing list please send your name and email address to info@alma-ihl.org or click here
Best regards
Ido Rosenzweig
ALMA Chairman.
Special Projects
1) The Interplay between Sanctions, Counter-Terrorism Measures and Humanitarian Action
In 2016 Chatham House’s International Security Department and International Law Programme launched a project on the role of states in promoting, or at least not impeding, principled engagement with non-state armed groups (NSAGs) for humanitarian purposes. Research examined the challenges posed by the international regulatory framework and, in particular, sanctions and counter-terrorism measures prohibiting the provision of material support to designated NSAGs, and its implementation in domestic law, taking the UK as a case study. It also looked at the impact on UK-registered NGOs of the restrictions imposed by the UK banking sector pursuant to this regulatory framework.
(1) Kate Jones, Humanitarian Action and Non-state Armed Groups: The UK Regulatory Environment, February 17, 2017.
(2) Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, Humanitarian Action and Non-state Armed Groups: The International Legal Framework, February 2, 2017.
2) The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts
The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project (RULAC) of the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights is a unique online portal that identifies and classifies all situations of armed conflict, provides information on the parties to these conflicts, and applicable international law. It aims to provide an independent and impartial classification of situations of armed conflict in the world based on open source information in a format that is accessible to a wide audience, including non-lawyers and non-specialists in international humanitarian law.
IHL Articles & Media
1) How does law protect in war? Online Casebook 2.0 (ICRC)
2) Vincent Bernard, Are we living through the worst period in history? (Humanitarian Law & Policy Blog)
3) Podcast: Tunnel Warfare and Robots (Modern War Institute)
4) Bryant Walker Smith, Controlling Humans and Machines (SSRN)
5) Mark Klamberg, Possibility of a Non-State Actor to Establish Courts, Issue Sentence and Avoid Criminal Responsibility for Acts that Otherwise Would Constitute War Crimes (SSRN)
6) Shana Tabak, Ambivalent Enforcement: International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Tribunals (SSRN)
7) Laura Iñigo Alvarez, Challenging the Westphalian Order: Incorporating Armed Groups in Law-Making Under International Humanitarian Law (SSRN)
8) Ozlem Ulgen, Human Dignity in an Age of Autonomous Weapons: Are We in Danger of Losing an 'Elementary Consideration of Humanity'? (SSRN)
9) Michael Schmitt, Tallinn Manual 2.0 on the International Law of Cyber Operations: What It Is and Isn’t (Just Security)
10) Annyssa Bellal, How does the UN Human Rights Council addresses Armed Non-State Actors? (Academy In-Brief)
11) Giulia Gentile, The 'Crossed Judicial Scrutiny' of the European Court of Human Rights and International Court of Justice: A Plea for Reforms in Order to Enhance Coordination between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law (SSRN)
12) Md Mustakimur Rahman, An Assessment of the ‘Lawfulness’ of Use of Force During Armed Conflict (SSRN)
13) Jonathan Horowitz, Reaffirming the Role of Human Rights in a Time Of ‘Global’ Armed Conflict (SSRN)
14) Emily Crawford, Tracing the Historical and Legal Development of the Levée En Masse in the Law of Armed Conflict (SSRN)
@ALMA_IHL Selected Tweets
1) #IHLarticle: South Sudan military officials quit over '#war crimes' https://goo.gl/DPRPU0
2) #IHLarticle: The #UseOfForce to (Re-)Establish #Democracies: Lessons from The Gambia .@ejiltalk
3) #IHLarticle Possibility of a #NonStateActor to Establish Courts & Avoid Criminal Responsibility in #WarCrimes .@SSRN http://goo.gl/P56ZJW
4) #ICJ is hiring for #Law Clerk positions. Deadline for applications: 10 March 2017 .@opiniojuris http://goo.gl/ocEpW2
For more IHL tweets please visit our twitter page
Upcoming IHL Worldwide Events
1) February 25, 2017, The 2017 Vancouver International Humanitarian Law Conference (Vancouver, Canada)
2) March 1, 2017, Autonomous Weapon Systems: Key Legal, Ethical and Operational Questions (Geneva, Switzerland)
3) March 2-3, 2017, IntLawGrrls! 10th Birthday Conference (Athens, Georgia, USA)
4) March 7, 2017, National Identities and the Right to Self -Determination of Peoples (Jerusalem, Israel)
5) March 8-11, 2017, The 15th Red Cross International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Moot (Hong-Kong)
6) March 9, 2017, International Conference on The Interactions of Transitional Justice and International Humanitarian Law (Tehran, Iran)
7) March 10-12, 2017, 4th Clara Barton IHL Competition (Washington DC, USA)
8) March 17, 2017, The Impact of Armed Conflict on the Environment and Natural Resources: A Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 Perspective (Bristol, UK)
9) March 18-25, 2017, The 29th Jean Pictet IHL Competition (Caucasus, Georgia)
For many more events from all over the world, please visit our upcoming IHL event - worldwide page on our website. To add your event to our database please send an email to events@alma-ihl.org