HUMANITARIAN DIPLOMACY

PUBLIC CONSCIENCE TODAY

Public Conscience in International Humanitarian Law Today

Michel Veuthey

“So, let us be alert – alert in a twofold sense:
Since Auschwitz we know what man is capable of.
And since Hiroshima we know what is at stake. ”
Viktor Frankl

“Se battre pour une vérité en veillant à ne pas la tuer des armes mêmes dont on la défend ”
Albert Camus

“ Laws would be useless unless each person had some ability to apply the law to the concrete situations in which he finds himself. This ability, this connecting link between the law and the individual act, is conscience.” Austin Fagothey

“The right of war, therefore, is derived from necessity and strict justice. If those who direct the conscience or councils of princes do not abide by this maxim, the consequence is dreadful: when they proceed on arbitrary principles of glory, convenience, and utility, torrents of blood must overspread the earth”. Montesquieu


I. Introduction

The Martens Clause - first inserted in the 1899 Hague Convention II containing the Regulations on the Laws and Customs of War on Land - deserves careful reconsideration in the present era of “deregulated” armed conflict, which affects both jus ad bellum and jus in bello in a worldwide confrontation, a planetary insurgency and counter-insurgency warfare, one country’s “global war on terror ” and another’s “war of liberation” against foreign occupation. Who are the combatants in these conflicts and who are the innocent civilians? The fact that many of the lines that divide combatants and non-combatants are blurred in today’s hostilities complicates the implementation of international humanitarian law. The indiscriminate attacks against civilians and the denial of legal guarantees of many prisoners captured in this confrontation make the Martens Clause all the more relevant.

1.1. What is Public Conscience?


Conscience can be defined as awareness (we would today use the word “consciousness”), understanding (literally “knowing together”). Conscience is the individual’s sense of what is right or wrong. It is a sense of moral awareness which could be understood as the will of God expressed in man’s judgements, an inherited intuitive sense evolved in the history of the human race, and a set of values derived from the religion, the education, the training and the experience of the individual. Conscience, informed by acculturation and instruction, is generally understood to give intuitively authoritative judgments on the moral quality of single actions.

Public conscience extends beyond the individual’s moral sense. It refers to values that are shared within a community, be it a family, a tribe, a nation, a religious or professional group, a region (Africa, Latin America, North America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North Africa and the Near East, Oceania, South-East Asia, etc.) or a group of nations (industrialized or developing).

Today’s writers and columnists appeal to the public conscience as writers have done for years and throughout history. Las Casas rallied his readers on behalf of the human dignity of Amerindians, Cesare Beccaria and Voltaire against torture, Harriet Beecher Stowe against slavery, Victor Hugo against the death penalty, Emile Zola against bigotry in the Dreyfus Case. In the 20th century, Gandhi in South Africa and India, Martin Luther King in the United States, Mgr Romero in El Salvador, Dom Helder Camara in Brasil, Mgr Carlos Belo in East Timor all spoke out against injustices that mobilized the public conscience.

Public conscience is related to the concepts of natural law and the law of nations (« jus gentium », « droit des gens », « Völkerrecht ») in their original meanings (sense?) of common values among all civilized peoples and customary values of all human civilizations, including spiritual values, humanitarian principles, professional ethics (military, medical ). It forms a safety net of fundamental principles found in various part of international law (laws of war, humanitarian law, human rights, international law protecting the environment, among others) linked to the survival and fundamental dignity of humankind. Even if the core of public conscience is universal, it is adjustable to cultures, situations and circumstances. Public conscience can indeed take different forms in different places and different times. It can even take the form of a negotiated compromise between justice and forgiveness. Public conscience can indeed take different forms in different places and different times.

They are the principles that are widely recognized to as advancing the universal common good, not limited to individual rights. Changes in the public conscience that promote inclusion that represent a widening of rights are progressive, and those that create exclusion are regressive. The notion of individual rights may be a Western concept, but the ethic of fairness is not. As Steven Pinker writes: “The good reasons for a moral position are not pulled out of thin air: they always have to do with what makes people better off or worse off, and are grounded in the logic that we have to treat other people the way we demand they treat us.”

The best summing up of what public conscience demands could indeed be the Golden Rule: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.” It is found in Judaism (Deuteronomy) and Christianity (Matthew 7:12), as well as in the Analects of Confucius and the philosophy of ancient Greece (Plato, Aristotle) and Rome (Seneca).

1.2. Public Conscience in Humanitarian Law: The Martens Clause

Public conscience comes before treaty law: it underpins it and indeed reaches beyond it. Firstly, one could say that public conscience is the trigger mechanism of every codification of international humanitarian law. Secondly, public conscience is the driving force behind the implementation and enforcement of international humanitarian law. Thirdly, public conscience forms a sort of safety net for humanity for circumstances that written law has overlooked or not yet covered.

On the battlefield of Solferino, Henry Dunant initiated both modern humanitarian action and humanitarian law by a change of his own personal conscience. He arrived there on 24 June 1859 as a businessman. Horrified by the extent of the suffering of the wounded on the battlefield, he started organising aid, with the permission of the military powers, the help of the women of Lombardy and of the Solferino parish priest, who offered his church as a makeshift hospital . Back in Geneva and still in shock, Dunant wrote his « Memory of Solferino » and, on all and every occasion, spread the message in Geneva and elsewhere in Europe, even grasping the opportunity of a congress on statistics to attract attention to the need to protect soldiers wounded on the battlefield. This change of conscience of one person, then of those who read his work and all whom he met and spoke to, will bring about a collective change of conscience of that era. This will not be an isolated phenomenon but one which will recur, each time induced by a tragedy or a collective trauma.

The term “ public conscience” first appeared in international humanitarian law forty years after Solferino, in 1899 at the First International Peace Conference in The Hague, initiated by a Russian professor of international law, Frederick de Martens (Fiodr Fiodorovich Martens) . More than a century later, public conscience remains an essential safety net for the humane treatment of prisoners of war and civilians in today’s crises. Considered by some at the time as a “diplomatic gimmick” intended to break a deadlock between conservative and progressive views on the treatment of resistance fighters against foreign invasion and occupation, the Martens Clause has survived as an important feature in humanitarian law.

Its French original wording and English version read as follows:

En attendant qu'un code plus complet des lois de la guerre puisse être édicté, les Hautes Parties Contractantes jugent opportun de constater que, dans les cas non compris dans les dispositions réglementaires adoptées par Elles, les populations et les belligérants restent sous la sauvegarde et sous l'empire des principes du droit des gens, tels qu'ils résultent des usages établis entre nations civilisées, des lois de l'humanité et des exigences de la conscience publique

Until a more complete code of the laws of war is issued, the High Contracting Parties think it
right to declare that in cases not included in the Regulations adopted by them, populations and
belligerents remain under the protection and empire of the principles of international law, as
they result from the usages established between civilized nations, from the laws of humanity,
and from the requirements of the public conscience.


1.3. Public Conscience after Martens

“Conscience ” is also mentioned in the Preamble of the 1925 Geneva Protocol as the “conscience of nations ”:

Whereas the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases, and of all analogous liquids materials or devices, has been justly condemned by the general opinion of the civilized world; and
Whereas the prohibition of such use has been declared in Treaties to which the majority of Powers of the world are Parties; and To the end that this prohibition shall be universally accepted as a part of International Law binding alike the conscience and the practice of nations

The four 1949 Geneva Conventions on the protection of war victims included the Martens Clause in their article on denunciation, in order to avoid a legal void :

The denunciation shall have effect only in respect of the denouncing Power. It shall in no way impair the obligations which the Parties to the conflict shall remain bound to fulfill by virtue of the principles of the law of nations, as they result from the usages established among civilized peoples, from the laws of humanity and the dictates of the public conscience.

The previous year, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in its second preambular paragraph, mentioned “the conscience of mankind ”:

Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people.

Twenty years later, the 1968 UN Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity recalls this in its preamble the wording of “matter of serious concern to world public opinion ”:

Noting that the application to war crimes and crimes against humanity of the rules of municipal law relating to the period of limitation for ordinary crimes is a matter of serious concern to world public opinion, since it prevents the prosecution and punishment of persons responsible for those crimes ”

The 1976 UN Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) takes over in its preamble the “Martens Clause ”:

Confirming their determination that in cases not covered by this Convention and its annexed Protocols or by other international agreements, the civilian population and the combatants shall at all times remain under the protection and authority of the principles of international law derived from established custom, from the principles of humanity and from the dictates of public conscience.

The two 1977 Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions also refer to the “Martens Clause ” in different settings and wordings:

• Additional Protocol I, relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, in paragraph 2 of Article 1 (“General principles and scope of application ”):

In cases not covered by this Protocol or by other international agreements, civilians and combatants remain under the protection and authority of the principles of international law derived from established custom, from the principles of humanity and from the dictates of public conscience.

• Additional Protocol II, relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, in the last paragraph of its Preamble:

Recalling that, in cases not covered by the law in force, the human person remain under the protection of the principles of humanity and the dictates of public conscience.


Twenty years later, the Preamble of the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning antipersonnel landmines also mentions the role of public conscience:

Stressing the role of public conscience in furthering the principles of humanity as evidenced by the call for a total ban of anti-personnel mines and recognizing the efforts to that end undertaken by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and numerous other non-governmental organizations around the world.

The 1998 Preamble of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights forty years before, refers to “the conscience of humanity ”:

Mindful that during this century millions of children, women and men have been victims of unimaginable atrocities that deeply shock the conscience of humanity.

II. The Role of Public Conscience in International Humanitarian Law (IHL)

2.1. The Law Before the Law: Public Conscience as the Origin of IHL

a) Humanitarian Customs Before IHL: Restraining Violence in order to Guarantee Survival

Public conscience in the humanitarian context could be understood as the universal and immemorial written and unwritten rules that are meant to restrain the use of violence—even in time of war— and limit the suffering of the wounded, shipwrecked or imprisoned enemy combatant as well as the enemy civilians so as not to jeopardize a community’s survival.

In ancient India in the Mahabharata and the Laws of Manu, in ancient Greece, China, Japan, in African customs and those of peoples all over the world, prohibitions exist against excesses that would endanger the group’s survival. Throughout history, all civilizations have developed rules to regulate internal conflicts within the group, tribe, nation and religion to ensure its survival. As cooperation is the best long-run survival strategy in most circumstances, conflict resolution is universal in human societies. Indigenous people of all continents have adopted mechanisms (rituals, ethical codes) to avoid excesses that could turn conflicts into anarchy. Examples of this are found among the Melanesians (indigenous peoples from Oceania), Inuit and Nilotic peoples ; in the religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Confucianism , and Bushido in Asia; Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Middle East; in customary humanitarian law in Africa ; and in mutual restrictions imposed by chivalry and military honor in Europe.

According to Erich Fromm, there are so-called “Life-Affirmative Societies” among primitive tribes, in which the main emphasis of ideals, customs and institutions is the preservation and growth of life in all its forms. In these societies we find a minimum of hostility, violence, or cruelty among people, no harsh punishment, hardly any crime, and the institution of war is absent or plays an exceedingly small role.

Most of those restraints in the use of violence and duties of solidarity were limited to the members of the group: i.e. members of the tribe, Ancient Greek cities among themselves, etc. International humanitarian law took over many of those restraints (one example is the prohibition of perfidy or of the use of poison). Thus, it established bridges between these “islands of humanity”. The universal ratification of the 1949 Geneva Convention and the declaration in Nuremberg of the Hague Law as customary certainly are considerable developments for international humanitarian law, which are more interesting for international lawyers than for others (??). Anchoring the “thin red line” of positive international humanitarian law in the public conscience of each region could be a contribution to the effectiveness of the Geneva and Hague Law.

Public Conscience as the Prime Mover of Codification of International Humanitarian Law

Public conscience, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say “public revulsion”, has been the driving force behind every codification of international humanitarian law over the past 150 years. Rather than the proactive inscription of lofty ideals, the major humanitarian and human rights international instruments in use today are mainly the products of the painful lessons learned from the collective tragedies and humanitarian disasters of modern history. Indeed, the list of humanitarian catastrophes of the late 19th to late 20th centuries mirrors the timeline for the adoption of these instruments:

ß The plight of the soldiers wounded on the battlefield of Solferino in 1859 as told by Henry Dunant in his book A Memory of Solferino brought European Governments to Geneva in 1864 to adopt the First Geneva Convention .

ß The shock caused by the Japanese defeat of the Russian fleet at the battle of Tsushima in 1905 highlighted the need to extend the protection of the Geneva Convention to the shipwrecked.

ß The unsatisfactory protection of the prisoners of war during World War I led to the adoption of a new Geneva Convention in 1929.

ß The suffering of millions of civilians occupied and interned during the Second World War in Europe and in Asia provoked a complete update of the Geneva Conventions and a new Convention on civilians.

ß The struggles for self-determination and the much-publicized attacks against the civilian population during the Vietnam War created the need for a reaffirmation and further development of international humanitarian law. The result was two 1977 Additional Protocols to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

ß Extensive defoliation programs and other spectacular damages to the environment during the Vietnam War were the motivation forces behind the 1974-1977 Geneva Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law, as well as behind the 1976 Convention on the Prohibition of Military or Any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques (ENMOD Convention).

ß The use of particularly indiscriminate conventional weapons in Vietnam and the public exposure of their humanitarian consequences created the pressure necessary for the adoption of the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) in 1980;

From the 1980s, awareness raising and international campaigning have taken on larger roles in policymaking and extending international humanitarian and human rights law. Spurred by the rapid growth and expansion of issue-oriented non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the vast expansion of the accessibility of information via the Internet and 24-hour TV and radio news channels, public conscience has been awakened to an ever-widening set of human rights and humanitarian issues:

ß Increased pubic awareness of human rights abuses around the world, especially in Latin America and the campaigns sustained by Governments (often led by the United States and the European Union) and numerous NGOs to abolish them created the favorable atmosphere for the renewed prohibition of torture at the United Nations in 1984;

ß A similar increase in global awareness about the tragic daily plight of hundreds of millions of children around the world, facilitated the movement led by UNICEF, the Swedish government and a group of NGOs for the adoption of UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1989 and the current campaign to promote adoption of its Optional Protocol;

ß The campaigning of a coalition of NGOs, the “International Campaign to Ban Landmines” (ICBL) (awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize ) and some like-minded governments led principally by Canada and others successfully pushed for a complete ban of antipersonnel landmines which became known as the 1997 Ottawa Treaty.

A group of determined NGOs, the Coalition for the International Criminal Court, played an instrumental role in the creation of the International Criminal Court. Long the dream of international lawyers, the creation of the Court was achieved with adoption in July 1998 of the Rome Statute. This Statute contributed to both the implementation – which we shall briefly discuss later – and the substance of international humanitarian law.





2.2. Public Conscience behind the Law: Public Conscience as the Driving Force behind the Implementation of International Humanitarian Law

a) The ICRC

The ICRC was established in 1863 in order to assist and protect wounded soldiers on the battlefield. Its mandate was successively extended to prisoners of war during WW I and to civilians during the Spanish Civil War and WW II. An actor in mobilizing public conscience for the protection of war victims, mostly behind the scenes, the ICRC’s policies and work are also strongly influenced by other actors, governments, NGOs, the United Nations, as well as, obviously, by victims themselves. Its medical doctors, as witnesses of the suffering of civilian victims of antipersonnel landmines, were the first to call for a total ban of such weapons, launched a media campaign against antipersonnel landmines, and played an important role in quietly lobbying Governments on behalf of the adoption of the Ottawa Treaty.

b) The United Nations

Public conscience, with the support of such powerful voices as Sean McBride, a co-founder of Amnesty International in 1961 and Nobel Peace Prize in 1974, forced the United Nations, which had given up the idea of dealing with laws of war, to reconsider the issue of human rights in armed conflicts at the 1968 Tehran Conference on Human Rights.

According to Article 89 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, "In situations of serious violations or the Conventions or of this Protocol, the High Contracting Parties undertake to act jointly or individually, in co-operation with the United Nations and in conformity with the United Nations Charter". This was a quite important provision because it allows for creativity and flexibility as needed.

Since the late seventies, the involvement of the UN in the implementation of IHL has taken many forms: denunciations of violations of IHL in resolutions by the Security Council or the General Assembly (regarding "human rights violations in territories occupied by Israel", but also in Afghanistan, in El Salvador, in Guatemala, in the Iraq-Iran conflict, in the Gulf War, and even the dispatching of a mission to Iraq and Iran in 1985 to investigate conditions under which prisoners of war were being held, and, since 1992, in former Yugoslavia )

Ending the impunity of perpetrators of atrocities is a major challenge. The most important step taken by the UN in this context is the establishment of international criminal tribunals such as those that were created for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

c) Human Rights NGOs

In addition to the formal and informal mechanisms provided for by treaty law, NGOs play an increasingly important role in the implementation of international humanitarian law.

NGOs keep United Nations Human Rights mechanisms under close scrutiny. The creation of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) (“Doctors Without Borders”) by French medical doctors unhappy about the discretion of the Red Cross during the Nigerian Civil War was both a new development in humanitarian action and had a distinct influence on the evolution of the ICRC’s behavior.

Human rights NGOs, which had campaigned for the Conventions against torture, for the rights of the child and for a total ban of antipersonnel landmines, remained mobilized for the effective implementation of those treaties. They often created networks or acted alone.

d) Local Civil Society

Article 18 of the First 1949 Geneva Convention mentions the role of the local population. Military authorities shall permit the inhabitants and relief societies, spontaneously or under their direction, to “collect and care for wounded and sick of whatever nationality.” Paragraph 3 provides that “no one ever be molested or convicted for having nursed the wounded or sick.” As the security of expatriate humanitarian workers becomes more problematic, the role of local civil society in the implementation of humanitarian law increases. It was the case in Somalia after the withdrawal of the peacekeeping forces, in Afghanistan and Iraq shortly before the US intervention: expatriates from most humanitarian organizations had to leave. Only local staff remained.

Even the United Nations, which had for so many years kept the NGO world at arms length, is now undertaking a “Global Programme” leading to an International Conference at UN headquarters in 2005 on “The Civil Society in the Prevention of Armed Conflict”. It echoes the opening words of the UN Charter (“We, the peoples of the United Nations…”).

2. The Development of Implementation Mechanisms

a) The Collective Responsibility of High Contracting Parties

Common Article 1 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions calling the High Contracting Parties (i.e. the States bound by the Conventions) to “respect and to ensure respect” for the Conventions “in all circumstances” was for many years considered as an empty repetition lacking substance. The reaffirmation of the individual and collective responsibility in Articles 1 and 89 of Additional Protocol I was the “wake-up call” for the reality of Common Article 1 of 1949.

This is an area where action is clearly needed. Ideas for the implementation of Common Article 1 abound. Measures available to States Party to the Geneva Conventions for fulfilling their obligation to ensure respect for international law according to Article 1 Common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions are an integral part of addressing the dictates of public conscience. They could include diplomatic démarches and pressure, both bilateral and discrete or multilateral and public, as well as coercive measures (diplomatic, trade, arms, trade embargo, reduction or suspension of public aid) individually or in cooperation with the United Nations and regional organizations.

The public conscience – on the national, regional and international level – should be enlisted to give substance to this open-ended provision. The Brahimi Report on U.N. peacekeeping, the debates at the Security Council on Africa, the massacres in Rwanda and Srebrenica, the plight of the civilian population in armed conflicts, the reports on the “Right to Protect” or on “Human Security” could provide food for thought and for action here.

b) Peace Enforcement Operations

Peacekeeping operations failed to prevent chaos in Somalia, genocide in Rwanda, massacre in Srebenica.

Individual Governments and the United Nations had to acknowledge these failures, which were well documented by the media.

Public policy debate in ongoing about the need for clearer mandates for U.N. troops, including the prevention of war crimes, the protection of civilian populations and humanitarian workers, and the search for and arrest of persons suspected of war crimes. Public conscience may dictate that action be taken, but without adequate resources even the clearest mandates cannot be fulfilled. Will Kosovo and East Timor make the U.N. Trusteeship a new possibility for “failed States” or for peace processes in need for safer road maps?

c) The Ad Hoc Tribunals

For many years, criminal prosecutions of war criminals were essentially limited to WW II cases.
Practically no prosecutions were conducted for crimes committed during decolonization: no action was taken; and when it was, it was it was probably unjust or inadequate. The general amnesties in France and in Algeria after 1962 or token prosecution of Lt. Calley for the My Lai massacre in Vietnam come to mind here. The public conscience seems to have only really reawakened by the so-called “ethnic cleansing” in former Yugoslavia and the Rwandan genocide, which led he U.N. Security Council to establish the Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the Security Council established in May 1993 for serious violations committed there since 1991. The Tribunal has competence on the following offenses: grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws and customs of war, genocide, and crimes against humanity. The creation of The International Tribunal on Rwanda (ICTR) followed in 1994. These were the first international criminal tribunals to be established for what was essentially a non-international conflict. The 1949 Geneva Conventions had established the principles of international jurisdiction for “grave breaches”; the ad hoc tribunals extended the scope of “grave breaches” to non-international armed conflicts.

The ad hoc Tribunals will continue to need require adequate resources and political support. Their existence does not do away with the obligation in the 1949 Geneva Conventions for all States Party to see to the punishment of grave breaches wherever they occur and whoever perpetrates them, be they Government officials or warlords. Some countries, like Sierra Leone and Cambodia have since chosen to establish—with the support of the United Nations—their own ad hoc courts for the prosecution of war crimes.

e) The International Criminal Court (ICC)

The International Criminal Court needs to be supported. It is only one part of a system that would end impunity to the perpetrators of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture. Such a system could certainly deter people contemplating such crimes, allow victims to obtain justice and support reconciliation efforts. States Party to the Geneva Conventions have been increasingly aware of their responsibility to respect international humanitarian law as individual States and increasingly collectively. The awareness of their collective responsibility is a more recent phenomenon, resulting from the combined pressure of public opinion, the ICRC and various human rights NGOs, bilaterally or before United Nations bodies. This collective responsibility pertains not only the enforcement of humanitarian rules. It contributes to national stability and international security, preventing disorderly movements of populations, uprooting of displaced persons and refugees, and the spreading of uncontrolled violence around the world.

The adoption of the 1998 Rome Statute and the establishment of the ICC do not relieve States Parties to the Geneva Conventions from the obligation to prosecute war criminals. Public conscience today dictates a more concrete fulfillment of this very clear obligation to either prosecute or extradite war criminals (“aut punire aut dedere”). In addition, the controversy over the Belgian Law on Universal Jurisdiction is not only a legal quarrel. A balance must certainly be found between diplomatic immunities and the search for perfect and quick justice.

d) Prevention: Justice and Reconciliation

Public conscience is not only demanding justice through criminal prosecution before national or international courts. In many countries, the need to achieve a peaceful settlement helped find a compromise between complete justice or immunity. The most common solution is the establishment of “Truth and Reconciliation Commissions”, as was done in South Africa and in many other countries, especially in Latin America.

Other local mechanisms of conflict resolution and reconciliation resurrected from age-old traditions, such as “gacaca” in Rwanda, may prove to be effective in some circumstances.

2.3. Public Conscience beyond the Law: Providing for the Unpredictable

According to the Martens Clause, “the requirements of public conscience” should provide fail-safe protection for enemy combatants and civilians in cases not covered in the written law. It should provide fundamental guarantees for the treatment of civilians and prisoners in cases where the applicability of the 1949 Geneva Conventions is denied, either generally or specifically. This would cover those situations where hostilities are not acknowledged as an “armed conflict”. It would also cover circumstances where the Third or Fourth 1949 Convention are not recognized as applicable, for example where captured fighters are not granted prisoner of war status or the right to a fair trial according to Article 5 of the Fourth Convention or Common Article 3. In this sense, public conscience should fill in the “legal black holes” that have increasingly popped up in conflicts in the post-Cold War era involving both State and non-State actors and into which an alarming number of civilians, prisoners of war and even humanitarian workers fall.

III. Battle over Public Conscience: Public Conscience vs. Public Inconscience

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing” Edmund Burke

While international media have played a decisive role in raising public awareness about humanitarian needs in the past, manipulation remains a possibility. Moreover, an inflamed public opinion – not necessarily public conscience but rather public inconscience - may incite further violations of international law, especially in the form of reprisals.

As was alluded earlier, the public conscience is not static. It can change over time, it can even be manipulated for the better or for the worse. It can be enlightened by empathy or tinged by prejudice. From war propaganda to “spin doctors”, manipulations are not infrequent. It may be overshadowed by public opinion.
A lot can be said on the good use –and misuse- of media and especially on their influence on local and international public opinion and humanitarian standards. "Radio Mille Collines" in Rwanda, advocating genocide, with the support of European experts, is an extremely negative example.

Is “ public conscience” synonymous with “ public opinion” as President Wilson suggested? Is the public conscience represented by public opinion expressed on CNN or Al Jazeera? Can opinion polls measure it? Is it better represented by statements of spiritual leaders? By reports of Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch?

However, the impact of radio on combatants and civilian populations can be very positive for promoting humanitarian principles on the ground, particularly when programs are broadcasted in local languages. Precautions are required with respect to dialects, accents, voices and characters so that the story cannot be identified with one side of the conflict. This medium could be more frequently used for "dissemination" purposes, such as training, education and promotion and public opinion campaigns.

Comic strips can also be used to reach both combatants and a greater public. A few years ago, the ICRC distributed comic strips on fundamental humanitarian rules to children in the Philippines, which were readily accepted and quickly found their way to their parents and other individuals, most notably guerrilla fighters. This is an excellent example of simple and clear dissemination of humanitarian principles, in this case in the form of a comic strip can have a wide impact.

Other new technologies are now also being used in non-international armed conflicts by insurgent groups or by human rights NGOs to influence public conscience: electronic mailing lists, websites, online training.

3.1. Discarding or Defending the Geneva Conventions

Shortly after the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, some expressed doubts about the validity of these instruments in today’s conflicts, especially post 11 September 2001.

The Geneva Conventions were not only defended behind closed doors. They were also defended successfully in public in newspapers. One such example is the open letter sent by Human Rights Watch to Ms. Condolezza Rice on the applicability of the 1949 Geneva Conventions in Afghanistan.

3.2. The Civilian Population as the Corner Stone of IHL

Public conscience is challenged to reaffirm the protection of civilian persons, of all civilian persons, even in the “Global War Against Terror” or in any kind of resistance to occupation. This intrinsically covers humanitarian workers, United Nations representatives, diplomats and journalists.

3.3. Torture is always unacceptable

Public conscience could be evoked to in revisiting an ancient battlefield: the prohibition of torture. Denying the legitimacy of torture was a victory of European Enlightenment as put forth by Beccaria and Voltaire. The 1984 U.N. Convention was not the last word on the subject, nor did it not close the debate. Lawyers, medical doctors, human rights activists, opinion makers, spiritual leaders should reaffirm this hard-won prohibition. This would benefit prisoners of all sides, of every status and in so many places.

Both terrorism against civilians and torture feed themselves: terrorism gives a pretext for torture, and torture breaks all restraints. This most unfortunate pattern was well documented by Germaine Tillion, a French resistant fighter during Word War II, writing about the war in Algeria in her book “Les Ennemis Complémentaires”.

IV. Conclusion: Mobilizing Public Conscience on Behalf of International Humanitarian Law Today

“Le droit est un essai toujours précaire pour rationaliser la force
et l’incliner vers le domaine de l’amour. Mais il est aussi un combat”
Emmanuel Mounier

Mobilizing public conscience on behalf of international humanitarian law means using both the old and the new: the human factor and the latest technological developments. The human factor is still key to public conscience in international humanitarian law. And technology could definitely help in providing information on history, law, training methods. In the words of Pierre Lévy, the Web could be our “collective intelligence”. In the field, technology could provide ways and means to monitor in real time the conduct of parties to conflicts as well as to make them aware of their obligations.

Public conscience is not the monopoly of legal experts. More research is needed in history, anthropology, spirituality, international relations, in order to defend fundamental rights pertaining to life and human dignity in all situations.

Proposals: Towards a Renaissance of Public Conscience

“The whole idea of compassion is based on a keen awareness of the interdependence of all these living beings,
which are all part of one another and all involved in one another” Thomas Merton

1. Research Roots

Renaissance literally means re-birth, renewal, return to the source. We need to research the roots of fundamental values in all civilizations, in order to move beyond the superficial universality of legal instruments, too often perceived as imposed by Western powers, and poorly implemented in too many cases.

As the ICRC survey conducted in 1999 for the 50th anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions demonstrated, local spiritual values are often the only efficient, convincing force that motivates the compliance with humanitarian rules in warfare.

2. Anchor Again in All Civilizations

Without losing the universality attained by the ratification of the 1949 Geneva Conventions—and in especially Common Article 3 —we need to anchor them in all civilizations in a new awareness of belonging, empowerment and interdependence, a renewed commitment to common humanity and for the respect of common values and objects indispensable to the survival of humankind such as water, food supplies, public health structures, cultural and spiritual treasures.

3. Reaffirm Universality of Fundamental Values

We need to underline the common values, to move beyond the celebrations of the 20th century of the 50th anniversary of the UN Charter, of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, of the 1951 Convention on Refugees to reaffirm the universality of fundamental values.

There are divergences of opinion between American and European allies (on the death penalty, for example). There are differences of emphasis between civil and political rights on one hand and social and economic rights on the other. There are also differences of importance of individual and group rights.

We therefore need to reaffirm a common core of human values, in discovering what makes them universal beyond cultural differences:

ß The right to life;
ß The right to personal security and religious freedom;
ß The right to family life;
ß The right to health care, adequate nutrition and shelter;
ß The principle of non-discrimination;
ß The prohibition of torture, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

More than a tool for the interpretation of existing humanitarian law, public conscience should provoke deeper levels of dialogue - including root causes of conflicts and the spiritual dimension of human dignity - in order to renew the recognition of the fundamental values respected as common to all humankind.

4. Reinforce Existing Mechanisms for the Respect of Fundamental Guarantees

The international community of States Party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions should reaffirm their collective responsibility according to Article 1, common to all four Conventions and to Protocol I. According to this provision, "The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for this Convention in all circumstances". Should measures be limited to diplomacy, adoption of resolutions or rather the use of sanctions and peace-enforcement operations in order to stop genocide and arrest war criminals? A number of Security Council resolutions, including those on anarchic conflicts, call upon all parties to respect international humanitarian law and reaffirm that those responsible for breaches thereof should be held individually accountable.

Public conscience reaches beyond international humanitarian law. It is relevant for human rights law, refugee law, the protection of the environment, the struggles against corruption, arms and drug trafficking, as well as the availability of affordable food and medicines whenever and wherever needed. In line with Boutros Ghali’s Agenda for Peace and Agenda for Development, and with UNHCR’s Agenda for Protection, public conscience calls for a global approach, an “Agenda for Humankind ” or, more bluntly, an “Agenda for Survival ”.

More human resources (not only legal advisers and human rights advocates but peacekeepers with adequate mandates and resources) and up-to-date technical tools (satellite photos, radio and communication monitoring by Governments or even non-State actors) should be used to prevent and prosecute serious human rights violations, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

5. Reinvent Remedies

We need to be more creative in applying remedies to promote the respect of fundamental values in all situations.

Some remedies might include:

1. The reaffirmation of fundamental humanitarian rules, customs and principles in a simple,
easy to understand form, and translation into local languages;

2. Training of arm bearers (military, police, private security groups) in fundamental restraints of violence and essential humanitarian principles;

3. Conducting international, regional and local public opinion campaigns to promote
fundamental humanitarian values and counter hate campaigns;

4. Mobilization of public role models (such as artists or athletes) who can influence leaders and public opinion at large in close contact with local traditions;

5. Including spiritual leaders in those campaigns, especially when religious and spiritual
values have been used to fuel conflicts;

6. Preparing the youth to recognize and defend the distinction between humanity and
inhumanity through educational programs. Reintegrate child soldiers in society;

7. Learning from human rights and environmental activists in order to promote fundamental humanitarian values in order that in the long run humanitarian norms become a part of humanitarian consciousness;

8. Monitoring arms transfers, beginning with light weapons, and promoting innovative
disarmament approaches, such as “weapons for food” or “weapons for development”;

9. Exerting better targeted bilateral and multilateral diplomatic, economic and adequate
military pressures against violators, in accordance with the UN Charter and international humanitarian law;

10. Fully including the respect of fundamental human values in the framework of the
maintenance and re-establishment of international security.


6. Re-Activate the Network of Humanity

We need to re-activate—or to create, when needed—a network of humanity carrying fundamental human values in all circumstances, and to maintain—or re-establish—the corresponding mechanisms on the local, national, regional and international level.

Public conscience can also be called upon to help to break barriers between different bodies of laws protecting human life and dignity – such as international humanitarian law, refugee law, and human rights among others – as well as between implementation mechanisms such as the ICRC, UNHCR, the U.N. and regional human rights mechanisms, as well as human rights NGOs. Public conscience is not imaginary nor a Maginot Line limited to the Hague Regulations and Geneva Conventions. It should be part of a continuum of safeguards for human dignity, animated by a network of State- and Non-State actors.

The same fundamental values should be applicable in all situations of emergency (armed conflicts and other emergency situations), reconstruction, development, economical growth, peaceful settlement of conflicts, international, regional and national legal cooperation. In all situations, the human person should be at the center, taking into account the spiritual dimension of all human activities.

7. Rebuild Public Conscience

“Either we live together as brothers, or we perish as fools.” Martin Luther King

As cited in the introduction, “public conscience” was introduced in positive international law by the Martens Clause at the Hague Peace Conference in 1899. It was the result of a compromise reached at the 1899 Hague Peace Conference to break a deadlock between Great and small Powers in Europe over the definition of combatants: in case of doubt international humanitarian rules should be interpreted in a manner consistent with standards of humanity and the demands of public conscience.

Humanitarian law is at the same time rooted in the history of all traditions of humankind, in all parts of the world, and is also very much part of our future, as one essential safeguard for our survival as a species. In the words of Jean Pictet, one of the founding fathers of contemporary humanitarian law, respect for humanitarian law is “necessary to humankind's survival”. In today’s confrontations, we need more than ever a public conscience which could be a voice for the vulnerable—civilians and prisoners—and a constraint for both powerful States and non-State actors alike If we fail to rally public conscience against the two demons threatening the very heart of humanitarian law: terrorism and torture, we may very well see a resurgence of widespread chaos, the law of the jungle, the dismantling of the entire structure of humanitarian law and human rights. In defending these pillars of humanitarian law (the protection of the civilian population and the prohibition of torture), public conscience should combine both international security and human requirements. By setting limits – even unwritten limits – to confrontation, public conscience will open the way to restoring dialogue and cooperation.

In the words of Martin Luther King: “The chain reaction of evil - hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars - must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation”.

-------

Notes:

Doctor of Laws (University of Geneva), then Adjunct Professor at the Fordham University School of Law (New York),
Director of the Summer Course on International Humanitarian Law organized by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (IIHL) in San Remo and Geneva. Today (August 2007) Acting President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law,
Professeur associé, Institut du Droit de la Paix et du Développement (IDPD), Université de Nice (France).
The author would like to thank Margaret Mottaz Shilliday, Valerie Marinoni and Esther Vigneau Kuisch for their editorial comments on the final English text of this chapter.
Viktor FRANKL, « The Case for a Tragic Optimism » in Man’s Search for Meaning.
New York, Washington Square Press, 1985, pp. 178-179
Albert CAMUS, Actuelles III. Chroniques algériennes (1939-1958). Paris, Gallimard, 1958, p. 24
Austin FAGOTHEY, Right and Reason. Ethics in Theory and Practice. Second Edition. Rockford, Illinois, Tan Books, 2000, p. 207
Tne Spirit of the Laws. By Charles de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu. Translated by Thomas Nugent, revised by J. V. Prichard. Based on an public domain edition published in 1914 by G. Bell & Sons,Ltd., London. Rendered into HTML and text by Jon Roland of the Constitution Society. Book X. Of Laws in the Relation They Bear to Offensive Force, Available on line [Accessed 31 August 2003] http://www.constitution.org/cm/sol.txt
THE COLUMBIA ENCYCLOPEDIA, Sixth Edition, 2001, available on line at: http://www.bartleby.com/65/co/conscienc.html
"Conscience" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=26341 [Accessed August 30, 2003].
Bartolomé DE LAS CASAS. A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies. Edited and Translated by Nigel Griffin with an Introduction by Anthony Pagden. London, Penguin, 1992, 143 p.
Cesare BECCARIA in his book On Crimes and Punishment published in 1764, originally published in Italian (Dei delitti e delle pene) and quickly translated into French and English, protests against the use of torture to obtain confessions. English text available online at http://www.constitution.org/cb/crim_pun.txt
Harriet BEECHER STOWE, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, first published in 1852. Available online at http://www.iath.virginia.edu/utc/uncletom/uthp.html
Arnold S. KOHEN, From the Place of the Dead. The Epic Struggle of Bishop Belo of East Timor. Introduction by the Dalai Lama. New York, St. Martin’s Press, 1999, 331 p.
Paolo BENVENUTI, « La clausola Martens e la tradizione classica del diritto naturale nella codificazione del diritto dei conflitti armati » in Scritti degli allievi in memoria di Giuseppe Barile, Padova, CEDAM, 1995, pp. 173-224.
The French text of the First 1949 Geneva Convention mentions the “conscience professionnelle ” (“professional ethics ”) in its Article 28 pertaining to retained medical and spiritual personnel. Medical ethics did indeed play an important role in the codification of international humanitarian law, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1997 Ottawa Treaty.
Steven PINKER, The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, 2002
See "Golden Rule" Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service.
http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=37993 [Accessed August 30, 2003].
Vladimir V. PUSTOGAROV. Our Martens. F.F. Martens : International Lawyer and Architect of Peace. Translated by William Butler. The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 2000, 360 p.
A French translation was published the year before : Vladimir Vasilievitch POUSTOGAROV. Au service de la paix. Frédéric de Martens et les Conférences internationales de la Paix de 1899 et 1907. Biographie d’un juriste et diplomate russe, traduite par Maud Mabillard, Geneviève Piron, Lili El-Tawil et Alexandre Voltchkoff. Genève, Ecole de traduction et d’interprétation de l’Université de Genève, 1999, 315 p.
Antonio CASSESE, « The Martens Clause: half a loaf or simply pie in the sky? », European Journal of International Law, Volume 11, Issue 1, pp. 187-216.
Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. Geneva, 17 June 1925
Paragraph 4 of Art 63/62/142/158
See the ICRC Commentary to the First 1949 Geneva Convention, p. 413 :
« Vague and self-evident as it undoubtedly is, such a clause is nevertheless useful, as it reaffirms the value and permanence of the lofty principles underlying the Convention.These principles exist independently of the Convention and are not limited to the field covered by it. The clause shows clearly, as we have said above, that a Power which denounced the Convention would nevertheless remain bound by the principles contained in it insofar as they are the expression of inalienable and universal rules of customary law. »
Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, 26 November 1968
Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects. Geneva, 10 October 1980.
Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction,18 September 1997
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 17 July 1998 [as corrected by the procès-verbaux of 10 November 1998, 12 July 1999, 30 November 1999, 8 May 2000, 17 January 2001 and 16 January 2002]
Henri MEYROWITZ, « Réflexions sur le fondement du droit de la guerre » in SWINARSKI, C. (Ed.) Etudes et essais sur le droit internationl humanitaire et sur les principes de la Croix-Rouge en l'honneur de Jean Pictet, Geneva, ICRC, 1984, 1143 p., pp. 419-431
Nagendra SINGH, « Armed conflicts and humanitarian laws of ancient India » in SWINARSKI, C. (Ed.) Etudes et essais sur le droit international humanitaire et sur les principes de la Croix-Rouge en l'honneur de Jean Pictet, Geneva, ICRC, 1984, 1143 p., pp. 531-536
See the Bhagavad Gita, 6.32, translated by Stephen MITCHELL, New York, Harmony Books, 2000, p. 94, as one equivalent of the “Golden Rule”:
“When he sees all beings as equal in suffering or in joy because they are like himself, the man has grown perfect in yoga”
English translation by Georg Bühler available online: http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu.htm
See especially Chapter Seven http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/manu/manu07.htm :
“90. When he [the King] fights with his foes in battle, let him not strike with weapons concealed (in wood), nor with (such as are) barbed, poisoned, or the points of which are blazing with fire.
91. Let him not strike one who (in flight) has climbed on an eminence, nor a eunuch, nor one who joins the palms of his hands (in supplication), nor one who (flees) with flying hair, nor one who sits down, nor one who says 'I am thine;'
92. Nor one who sleeps, nor one who has lost his coat of mail, nor one who is naked, nor one who is disarmed, nor one who looks on without taking part in the fight, nor one who is fighting with another (foe);
93. Nor one whose weapons are broken, nor one afflicted (with sorrow), nor one who has been grievously wounded, nor one who is in fear, nor one who has turned to flight; (but in all these cases let him) remember the duty (of honourable warriors).
94. But the (Kshatriya) who is slain in battle, while he turns back in fear, takes upon himself all the sin of his master, whatever (it may be)”
See the Chinese character “Jên” or “benevolence, the first of the four virtues considered by Confucius to be innate in humans, can also be translated as “kindness” or “humanity”. The ideas are inseparable. It is our humanity that prompts us to do good unto others, as we would have done unto ourselves.” Barbara ARIA, in her book with Russell ENG ON, The Spirit of the Chinese Character. Gifts fromn the Heart. San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 1992, p. 47, adds: “This ideogram combines the radical for “human being” (also pronounced “jên”), showing the legs and trunk of a person, with the pair of horizontal strokes that denotes “two”.
ADACHI, Sumio. “Traditional Asian Approaches: the Japanese View”, in UNESCO, International Dimensions of Humanitarian Law, Paris, 1988, pp. 13-19.
9 Australian Yearbook of International Law. 1985, pp. 158-167
PLATON, La République. Introduction, traduction et notes de R. BACCON, Paris, 1966, pp. 224-227. See also
• André BERNAND, Guerre et violence dans la Grèce antique, Paris, Hachette, 1999, 431 p.
• Pierre DUCREY, Le traitement des prisonniers de guerre dans la Grèce antique, Paris 1978, and Jacqueline de ROMILLY, La Grèce antique contre la violence, Paris, Ed. de Fallois, 2000, 188 p.
F. KEITSCH Formen der Kriegführung in Melanesien, Bamberg, 1967, p. 380
M. DAVIE La guerre dans les sociétés primitives. Son rôle et son évolution. Traduit de l’anglais par M. Guérin. Paris, Payot, 1931, 440 p.
E. E. EVANS-PRITCHARD The Nuer. A Description of the Modes of Livelihood and Political Institutions of a Nilotic People, London, Oxford University Press, 1940, 271 p.
Buddhism contains two fundamental principles, maitri (friendliness, benevolence) and karuna (mercy, compassion) closely related to the principle of humanity.
For Hinduism, numerous rules on the kind treatment to be granted to the vanquished are found in the Mahabharata (XII, 3487, 3488, 3489, 3782, 8235) which also prescribes loyalty in combat (XII, 3541 and 42, 3544 to 51, 57 to 60, 64, 3580, 3659, 3675, 3677). See also the famous Laws of Manu, VII, 90 to 93 (The Laws of Manu, Oxford 1886)
On Taoism, see LAO TSE: Tao Te Ching, A new translation by Gia-Fu and Jane ENGLISH (New York 1972) and in particular No. 68 ("a good winner is not vengeful") and No. 38
See Barbara ARIA and Russell ENG GON, The Spirit of the Chinese Character, San Francisco: Chronicle Books, p. 47
On Bushido, see Sumio ADACHI, " Traditional Asian approaches: A Japanese view" in Australian Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 9, 1985, pp. 158 - 167, and, by the same author, "The Asian Concept", in: International Dimensions of Humanitarian Law, Paris, UNESCO, 1986, pp. 13-19, which also considers Buddhism.
On Judaism, see Erich FROMM's You Shall Be As Gods (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1966)
On Christianity, Max HUBER The Good Samaritan: Reflections on the Gospel and Work of the Red Cross, London, Gollancz, 1945, 77 p. See also Joseph JOBLIN, L'Eglise et la Guerre. Conscience, violence, pouvoir, Paris 1988, and in particular, for jus in bello, pages 193 onwards; Alfred VANDERPOL, La doctrine scolastique du droit de la guerre, Paris 1919
On Islam, see among others Hamed SULTAN, "The Islamic Concept", in International Dimensions of Humanitarian Law", Geneva/Paris, UNESCO/Nijhoff, 1988, pp. 29-39, Marcel BOISARD, L'Humanisme de l'Islam, Paris 1979; Jean-Paul Charney, L'Islam et la guerre. De la guerre juste à la révolution sainte, Paris 1986. See also the article published in the International review of the Red Cross by M.K. EREKSOUSSI, "The Koran and the Humanitarian Conventions" (May 1962); Ameur ZEMMALI, Combattants et prisonniers de guerre en droit islamique et en droit international humanitaire, Paris, Pedone, 1997, 519 p.
On African customs, see Emmanuel BELLO, African Customary Humanitarian Law, Geneva: ICRC, 1980; the articles by Yolande DIALLO published in February and August 1976 in the International Review of the Red Cross under the title "Humanitarian Law and African Traditional Law".
G.I.A.D. DRAPER, “The interaction of Christianity and Chivalry in the historical development of the law of war” IRRC, Nov. – Dec. 1979, pp. 283-300.
See Geoffrey BEST, Humanity in Warfare. The Modern History of International Law of Armed Conflicts, London, Weidenfels and Nicolson, 1980, 400 p.
Michael IGNATIEFF, The Warrior’s Honour. Ethnic War and the Modern Conscience. New York: Viking, 1998, 207 p. compares this warrior’s honor with today’s ethnic conflicts…
Eric FROMM The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973, p. 168
Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, of 22 August 1864. Available online at:http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/lawofwar/geneva04.htm
The Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May Be Deemed to Be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, also known as the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) or the Inhumane Weapons Convention, was concluded on 10 October 1980, and entered into force on 2 December 1983. The Convention includes four Protocols which ban or restrict the use of various types of weapons that are considered to cause unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering or to have other humanitarian consequences. The weapons currently covered include landmines and booby-traps, incendiary weapons, weapons leaving undetectable fragments in the body, and blinding laser weapons. Currently, 90 States are Party to the Convention. On this Convention, see the following websites:
www.icrc.org/IHL.nsf/0/ f6426235883f9d62c125641e0052d53d?OpenDocument
http://www.ccwtreaty.com/
UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment G.A. Res. 39/46, [Annex, 39 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 51) at 197, U.N. Doc. A/39/51 (1984)], entered into force June 26, 1987.. Available online at www.hrweb.org/legal/cat.html
Adopted and opened for signature, ratification and accession by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989. Available online: http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/k2crc.htm
11 international NGOs are party to the joint appeal: Amnesty International (AI), Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture (Fi.ACAT), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the International League for Human Rights, the International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT) and REDRESS Trust for Torture Survivors. http://www.apt.ch/un/dop/pr190702.htm
See the following press release available online http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1997/press.html :
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 1997, in two equal parts, to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and to the campaign's coordinator Jody Williams for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.
The ICBL and Jody Williams started a process which in the space of a few years changed a ban on anti-personnel mines from a vision to a feasible reality. The Convention which will be signed in Ottawa in December this year is to a considerable extent a result of their important work. There are already over 1,000 organizations, large and small, affiliated to the ICBL, making up a network through which it has been possible to express and mediate a broad wave of popular commitment in an unprecedented way. With the governments of several small and medium-sized countries taking the issue up and taking steps to deal with it, this work has grown into a convincing example of an effective policy for peace”.
ANDERSON, Kenneth. “ The Ottawa Convention Banning Landmines, the Role of International Non-Governmental Organizations and the Idea of International Civil Society”, EJIL, Vol. 11, (2000) No. 1, full text of the article available online: http://www.ejil.org/journal/Vol11/No1/art8.html
The Coalition for the International Criminal Court is a network of well over 1,000 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) advocating for a fair, effective and independent International Criminal Court (ICC). See their website: http://www.iccnow.org/
Of special interest are: Resolution 764 (1992) of 13 July 1992, in which the Security Council reaffirmed that all parties are bound to comply with the obligations under international humanitarian law and in particular the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and that persons who commit or order the commission of grave breaches of the Conventions are individually responsible in respect of such breaches; Resolution 771 (1992) of 13 August 1992, in which it demanded that all parties immediately cease and desist from all breaches of international humanitarian law; Resolution 780 (1992) of 6 October 1992, in which it requested the Secretary-General to establish, as a matter of urgency, an impartial Commission of Experts to examine and analyze the information submitted pursuant to resolutions 771 (1992) and 780 (1992), together with such further information as the Commission of Experts may obtain, with a view to providing the Secretary-General with its conclusions on the evidence of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
Mary GRIFFIN, « Ending the impunity of human rights atrocities : A major challenge for international law in the 21st century ». International Review of the Red Cross. 2000, No. 838, pp. 369-389
See Laurence BOISSON de CHAZOURNES and Luigi CONDORELLI, « XXX » .
See Umesh PALWANKAR, « Measures available to States for fulfilling their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law » IRRC, no. 298, pp. 9-25, available online at:
http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList113/35289C31F0187A41C1256B6600591427

See Le Monde, Sunday 24 August 2003, “SOS au Proche-Orient”: “L'Autorité et Israël ont besoin d'un tuteur, politique et militaire. L'idée commence à poindre d'une formule qui consisterait à placer les territoires sous mandat onusien, garanti par le déploiement d'une force internationale, comprenant évidemment les Etats-Unis. C'est dans le cadre de cette tutelle – un peu comme au Timor ou au Kosovo – que serait conduite la lutte contre les organisations terroristes, mené le démantèlement des implantations et le retrait militaire israélien, enfin créé l'Etat palestinien. Après tant d'échecs, une majorité d'Israéliens et de Palestiniens souscriraient à cette approche”.

Resolution 827
Article 2 of the Statute
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5
See Iain GUEST (Overseas Development Council) on National Public Radio (“All Things Considered”), Friday 16 April 1999. “The Hague Tribunal was established by the UN Security Council in May 1993, ostensibly to deter war crimes, but the [Security] Council squabbled over funding and even delayed appointing a prosecutor for a year.” (on 8 July 1994, Resolution 936, appointing Richard J. Goldstone)
See Patricia GROSSMAN, „Bring Warlords to Justice“, International Herald Tribune, Saturday-Sunday, March 9-10, 2002, p.10
See the following recommendations by Amnesty International :
1. Ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and enact effective implementing legislation to cooperate fully with the Court.
2. Enact and use universal jurisdiction legislation for the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture, extra-judicial executions and "disappearances", in order that their national courts can investigate and, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, prosecute anyone who enters its territory suspected of these crimes, regardless of where the crime was committed or the nationality of the accused or the victim.
3. Enact legislation to ensure effective cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and any other international criminal court created in the future.
International humanitarian law is one of the many legal, political, ethical instruments to deal, in today’s global disorder, with our “genocidal mentality” and to “become healers, not killers, of our species” (Robert Jay LIFTON, Eric MARKUSEN, The Genocidal Mentality. Nazi Holocaust and Nuclear Threat, New York, Basic Books, 1990, p. 279).
See Laura OLSON, “Mechanisms complementing prosecution”, available online at www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/0/ 079dfcdd503ae503c1256ba700329b49?OpenDocument
Quoted by William SHAWCROSS. Deliver Us From Evil. Peacekeepers, Warlords and a World of Endless Conflict. New York, Simon & Schuster, 2000, p. 13
Murder, kidnapping, and intimidation of journalists "place severe constraints on freedom of expression." This one of the points presented in a new "Declaration of Principles on Freedom of Expression» adopted October 19 by the Organization of American States (OAS). http://www.cidh.oas.org/declaration.htm
See also the Web Site of the OAS Office of the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression:
http://www.cidh.oas.org/Relatoria/English/Home.htm

Yael DANIELI (Ed.), Sharing the Front Line and the Back Hills. International Protectors and Providers: Peacekeepers, Humanitarian Aid Workers and the Media in the Midst of Crisis, Amityville, NY, Baywood Publishing Company, 2002, 429 p.

See the Web Site of Radio Netherlands: “Hate or Opposition Radio?"
http://www.rnw.nl/realradio/dossiers/html/definitions.html
See Morand FACHOT, Fondation Hirondelle: News, Contacts, Links
“Inventaire des radios "de haine" et à but humanitaire dans les zones de conflit”:
http://www.hirondelle.org/hirondelle.nsf/c0d4ea7a44b64faec12564e500421ff1/e565035665405536c12568e40060d3f2?OpenDocument

Paul GUGGENHEIM, « L’organisation de l’opinion publique dans la communauté internationale » Annales d’Etudes Internationales, Genève, IUHEI, 1970, p. 155

Such as in Chiapas (Mexico) with the help of American Websites, such as www.chiapasmediaproject.org

See White House Counsel Alberto R. GONZALES, quoted by Stuart TAYLOR Jr. “We Don’t Need to Be Scofflaws to Attack Terror. Disregarding the Geneva Conventions Will Undermine the Ability of the United States to Wage War” The Atlantic Monthly (February 2, 2002), available online (accessed 23 August 2003): http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/nj/taylor2002-02-05.htm
See Hans-Peter GASSER, “Total War Against Terrorism? The Geneva Conventions Also Apply to the Anti-Terror Effort”, Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), 19. August 2002, and Marco SASSOLI. “Nebenopfer der Angriffe vom 11. September? Die Gefangenen in Guantanamo und die Genfer Abkommen”, NZZ, 23. Januar 2002.
Letter by Kenneth Roth, Executive Director, Human Rights Watch to The Honorable Condoleeza Rice, National Security Advisor, The White House, Washington DC, Janury 28, 2002. Available online at: http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/01/us012802-ltr.htm
Cesare BECCARIA in his book On Crimes and Punishment published in 1764, originally published in Italian (Dei delitti e delle pene) and quickly translated into French and English, protests against the use of torture to obtain confessions. English An essay on crimes and punishments. Written by the Marquis Beccaria, of Milan. With a commentary attributed to Monsieur de Voltaire. Philadelphia: Printed and sold by R. Bell, next door
to St. Paul's Church, in Third-Street. MDCCLXXVIII. [1778]Translated from the French by Edward D. Ingraham. Second American edition. Philadelphia (No. 175, Chesnut St.): Published by Philip H. Nicklin: A. Walker, printer, 24, Arch St., 1819) available online at http://www.constitution.org/cb/crim_pun.txt
See the excellent file by Human Rights Watch “the Legal Prohibition Against Torture” available online at:
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/11/TortureQandA.htm
Germaine TILLION. Les ennemis complémentaires. Paris. Editions de Minuit, 1960, 218 p.
Pierre LEVY, Pour l’intelligence collective. Paris, La Découverte, 1994
See the Executive Summary of the Global Report at:
http://www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf/5cacfdf48ca698b641256242003b3295/be5298c00339e340c1256af4004efaf3?OpenDocument
“Human rights is a complex idea with differing emphases even as between various Western societies. Only with appropriate humility and self-doubt can true dialogue be encouraged.” Stephen J. Toope, Cultural Diversity and Human Rights (F. R. Scott Lecture) http://collections.ic.gc.ca/tags/cultural.html
Paul GROSSRIEDER, “Humanitarian Standards and Cultural Differences” in ICRC, Seminar for non-governmental organizations on humanitarian standards and cultural differences. Summary Report, ICRC & The Geneva Foundation to Protect Health in War, Geneva, 14 December 1998.
See Umesh PALWANKAR, « Measures available to States for fulfilling their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law » IRRC, no. 298, pp. 9-25
http://www.icrc.org/Web/Eng/siteeng0.nsf/iwpList113/35289C31F0187A41C1256B6600591427
Such as the U.S. Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids security assistance to any government that "engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights" [22 U.S.C. Secs. 2034, 2151n].
See W. RENO, Corruption and State Politics in Sierra Leone, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1995
See the “Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative”, available online at: www.dndi.org
A/47/277 - S/24111 17 June 1992. An Agenda for Peace Preventive diplomacy, peacemaking and peace-keeping. www.un.org/Docs/SG/agpeace.html
An Agenda for Development Report of the Secretary-General. A/48/935, 6
May 1994. Available online (16 August 2003) www.un.org/Docs/SG/agdev.html
See the UNHCR main website for the « Global Consultations »
http://www.unhcr.ch/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/global-consultations
The full text of the Agenda for Protection is available online in PDF format at:
http://www.unhcr.bg/pubs/agenda_protection/en/agenda_for_protection_toc.htm
See http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,583028,00.html
Dr Scilla Elworthy, “Conflict resolution in the 21st century”, Tuesday October 30, 2001
And Michel VEUTHEY “Remedies to Promote the Respect of Fundamental Human Values in Non-International Armed Conflicts”, The Israeli Yearbook on Human Rights, Vol. 30 (2001), pp. 37-77.
The March 2002 issue of "Democracy Issues", an electronic journal published by the United States Department of State, is dedicated to human rights education. It includes some interesting contributions, including articles by Felisa Tibbitts ("Emerging Models for Human Rights Education") and Nanc Flowers (Human Rights Education in U.S. Schools); an interview with human rights educators from South Africa ("Human Rights Education in Diverse, Developing Nations: A Case in Point -- South Africa"); and an article on training for judges, prosecutors, attorneys and the police ("International Human Rights Training" by Michael Hartmann). The journal also features a short bibliography and related web sites. The full text of the journal can be found at : http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itdhr/0302/ijde/ijde0302.htm
Including by campaigns for a universal ratification of human rights and international humanitarian law treaties. See Hans-Peter GASSER, "Steps taken to encourage States to accept the 1977 Protocols", IRRC, No. 258, May 1987. An other example is the campaign conducted in February 2002 to recommend to the U.S. Senate that it ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (http://world.pylduck.com/02/0212.html)
See the ICRC’s „Woza Africa! Music goes to war." This was the slogan adopted by six popular African musicians who, responding to the ICRC's call, led a campaign in 1997 to help curb the indiscriminate violence that has long plagued their continent. The musicians strove to reach people's hearts and minds through a series of original songs which they performed live and recorded.
See THE MILLENNIUM WORLD PEACE SUMMIT OF RELIGIOUS AND SPIRITUAL LEADERS
New York, August 2000 « Commitment to Global Peace » (http://global-forum.org/research/globalpeace.html)
See the educational programs of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) (www.icrc.org) , Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies as well as by the UNESCO (www.unesco.org) and Human Rights NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Internet and academic institutions such as the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, in San Remo (Italy) with courses on laws of war for military personnel, on refugee law and on international humanitarian law (www.iihl.org)
It is not only needed to stop the use of child soldiers (http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/crp/index.htm) but also to reintegrate them in society: see Mike WESSELS, « Child Soldiers », Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, Chicago, Nov/Dec 1997 (http://pangaea.org/street_children/africa/armies.htm) and the website of the Office of the SRSG for Children and Armed Conflict http://www.undp.org/erd/recovery/ddr/organizations/osrg.htm and the UNICEF « Children at both ends of the gun ») : http://www.unicef.org/graca/kidsoldi.htm
See AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL HANDBOOK (Seventh Ed.), available online, at
http://www.amnesty-volunteer.org/aihandbook/ and especially Chapter 4 (« Campaigning ») and 5 (« AI Action - Advice and Guidelines ») as well as the excellent HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION HANDBOOK available online : http://www.hrusa.org/hrmaterials/hreduseries/hrhandbook1/toc.html (Human Rights Resource Center, University of Minnesota, 2000)
See Morton WINSTON, « NGO Strategies for Promoting Corporate Social Responsibility » Ethics & International Affairs, Vol. 16, Number 1 (Spring 2002). According to Morton Winston, there is a basic divide between NGOs :
-Engagers try to draw corporations into dialogue in order to persuade them by means of ethical and prudential arguments to adopt voluntary codes of conduct, while confronters believe that corporations will act only when their financial interests are threatened, and therefore take a more adversarial stance toward them.
-Confrontational NGOs tend to employ moral stigmatization, or “naming and shaming,” as their primary tactic, while NGOs that favor engagement offer dialogue and limited forms of cooperation with willing MNCs.
See William HARTUNG “The New Business of War: Small Arms and the Business of Conflict” Ethics & International Affairs Annual Journal of the Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, Vol. 15, No 1 (2001). The author’s argument is the following: The proliferation of internal conflicts fueled by small arms poses a grave threat to peace, democracy, and the rule of law. The weapons of choice in today's conflicts are not big-ticket items like long-range missiles, tanks, and fighter planes, but small and frighteningly accessible weapons ranging from handguns, carbines, and assault rifles on up to machine guns, rocket-propelled grenades, and shoulder-fired missiles. In conflict zones from Colombia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, picking up a gun has become the preferred route for generating income, obtaining political power, and generating "employment" for young people, many no more than children, who have little prospect of securing a decent education or a steady job. Ending the cycle of violence fueled by small arms must become a top priority for the international community. No single treaty or set of actions, however, will "solve" the problem of light weapons proliferation. What is needed is a series of overlapping measures involving stricter laws and regulations, greater transparency, and innovative diplomatic and economic initiatives.
See Anna SEGALL. « Economic sanctions : legal and policy constraints » IRRC December 1999, Vol. 81, No 836, pp. 763-.784, and Claude BRUDERLEIN, « U.N. Sanctions Can Be More Humane and Better Targeted » Public Affaius Report, University of California, Berkeley, Vol. 41, No. 1, January 2000 (http://www.igs.berkeley.edu/publications/par/Jan2000/Bruderlein.html)
Arthur C. HELTON and Robert P. DeVECCHI, « Human Rights, Humanitarian Intervention & Sanctions » http://www.foreignpolicy2000.org/library/issuebriefs/IBHumanRights.html and H.C. Graf SPONECK, « Sanctions and Humanitarian Exemptions : A Practitioner’s Commentary » European Journal of International Law, Vol. 13, Issue 1, 2002, pp. 81-87 – Full text available at :http://www3.oup.co.uk/ejilaw/current/130081.sgm.abs.html
See Michel VEUTHEY “The Contribution of the 1949 Geneva Conventions to International Security”,
Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 18, Nr. 3, 1999, pp. 22-26.
See OXFAM, « Africa at the Crossroads », Oxfam Policy Papers No 19 (March 02) http://www.oxfam.org.uk/policy/papers/africacrossroads/africacrossroads.html
See Michael K. ADDO (Editor) Human Rights Standards and the Respoonsibility of Transnational Corporations. The Hague, Kluwer Law International, 1999, 384 p.
See Antonio CASSESE “The Martens Clause: Half a Loaf or Simply Pie in the Sky?” EJIL (2000), Vol. 11 No 1, pp. 187-216; Theodor MERON, “The Martens Clause, Principles of Humanity, and Dictates of Public Conscience”, AJIL, Vol 94, No. 2 (2000), pp. 78-89; Shigeki MIYAZAKI, “The Martens Clause and international humanitarian law” ” in SWINARSKI, C. (Ed.) Etudes et essais sur le droit internationl humanitaire et sur les principes de la Croix-Rouge en l'honneur de Jean Pictet, Geneva, ICRC, 1984, 1143 p., pp. 433-444


MV DG Geneva, 2 September 2003

Published in: « Public Conscience in International Humanitarian Law Today » in : FISCHER, Horst, FROISSART, Ulrike, HEINTSCHELL von HEINEGG, Wolff, RAAP (Editors) Krisensicherung und Humanitärer Schutz – Crisis Management and Humanitarian Protection. Festschrift für Dieter Fleck, Berlin, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag (BWV), 2004, pp. 611-642.

HOMMAGE AU PROFESSEUR J. PATRNOGIC

Le Professeur Jovan Patrnogic était né le 17 août 1921 en Yougoslavie. Il est décédé le 6 mai 2007 à son domicile à Genève. Nous voudrions ici lui rendre hommage et présenter toute notre sympathie à sa famille. L'Institut lui doit beaucoup, tout comme le droit international humanitaire et les organisations pour lesquelles il a donné tant d'énergie, d'intelligence et d'habileté jusqu'à la fin.

Initiateur et co-fondateur de l'Institut international de droit humanitaire, il a inspiré l'Institut depuis les démarches qui ont mené à sa création jusqu'à la préparation des réunions statutaires de septembre 2007 qui confirmeront son renouvellement.

II a vécu le droit international humanitaire dans sa théorie et sa pratique, a été victime de ses violations quand il a été prisonnier mais a aussi bénéficié de sa protection en tant que réfugié : jeune homme, il a subi l'occupation de son pays pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, a participé à la résistance, a été capturé, torturé. Après la guerre, rencontrant un de ses tortionnaires dans les rues de Munich, il lui a pardonné. Sur le plan professionnel, il a été Colonel de l'Armée yougoslave, Doyen de la Faculté de Droit de Pristina, Secrétaire Général de la Croix-Rouge yougoslave.

Réfugié en Suisse, il y a été accueilli par son ami Jean Pictet, alors Vice-Président du CICR, a ensuite collaboré au CICR, à la Fédération internationale des Sociétés nationales de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge, au Haut-Commissariat pour les Réfugiés, où il a été Directeur de la Protection. Il a aussi été Professeur à la Faculté de Droit de Genève et Médiateur au Tribunal Arbitral du Sport (Court of Arbitration for Sport) du Comité International Olympique. Il a été Vice-Président de la Commission Médico-Juridique de Monaco. Il a donné des cours sur le droit international humanitaire en Corée, aux Etats-Unis, en France, en Italie, en Suisse.

Pionnier, il l'a été dans de nombreux domaines, et en particulier dans le cadre de l'Institut de San Remo, où il a promu

- des formes originales de dialogue humanitaire pour la codification du droit international humanitaire, en jouant un rôle décisif pour surmonter les obstacles que rencontrait la Conférence diplomatique sur le droit humanitaire (CDDH) en vue de l'adoption des deux Protocoles additionnels de 1977 ; les réunions informelles de San Remo ont permis, dans une atmosphère conviviale, de surmonter des impasses et d’aboutir à un accord ;

- des cours de formation du personnel militaire en droit humanitaire de manière pratique et intégrée aux cours pour officiers, avec l'appui du Colonel EMG Frédéric de Mulinen, officier d'Etat-Major suisse mis à la disposition de l'Institut par le CICR;

- une clarification du droit humanitaire dans le domaine de la guerre navale, avec le Manuel de San Remo ("San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts") en 1995;

- sa mise en oeuvre par des réunions Est-Ouest avant la chute du Mur de Berlin et, ensuite, par des rencontres, en terrain neutre, des protagonistes du conflit qui déchira son pays d'origine, la Yougoslavie.

Pacifique, il était aussi combattif et tenace, faisant des miracles avec des moyens limités, sachant mobiliser un vaste réseau d'amis et de bonnes volontés pour l'Institut. Il a ainsi su attirer à San Remo l'élite des juristes internationaux, des organisations internationales, des académies militaires. Il a même réussi à gagner des artistes comme Barbara Hendriks et Peter Ustinov à la cause du droit humanitaire.

Très fier des 35 années de dialogue humanitaire de l'Institut, il se préoccupait aussi de l'avenir: ayant assuré pour l'Institut des avantages appréciables de la part des Autorités italiennes, suisses et genevoises, il cherchera, ces dernières années, à s'assurer de nouveaux partenariats, dont l'accord avec l'Institut du Droit de la Paix et du Développement de l'Université de Nice marquera la reconnaissance internationale, sur le plan académique, de la valeur des cours de San Remo.

Jovica (c'est ainsi que ses amis le connaissaient) Patrnogic a marqué l'Institut, et bien davantage encore. Il a certainement donné une dimension nouvelle à San Remo. Il a aussi permis à Genève de développer sur les rives de la Méditerranée une attitude informelle parfois difficile dans la ville de Calvin. Il a aussi créé un « esprit de San Remo », empreint de sérieux, d’humanisme et de respect mutuel, une atmosphère détendue permettant à des experts et représentants officiels de débattre informellement et concrètement des questions difficiles, souvent de brûlante actualité. Il a ouvert le droit humanitaire en montrant clairement, à travers tant de réunions et de publications de l'Institut, son lien étroit avec le droit international public, avec la justice internationale, avec la sécurité internationale, avec la paix, son interaction nécessaire avec les droits de l'homme, avec le droit des réfugiés, avec la protection de l'environnement, avec la protection des biens culturels, avec la limitation des armements. Au delà des normes et des institutions, des traités et des mécanismes, il a plaidé pour des règles simples, concrètes, universellement applicables.

Que sa famille soit remerciée: longtemps, alors que d'autres choisissaient, comme il le disait, "la dolce vita", il a passé journées et soirées à rassembler à San Remo diplomates, militaires et experts de tous bords pour faire progresser le droit humanitaire, sa compréhension, la formation des personnes qui devront l'appliquer, sa mise en oeuvre concrète.

Le Professeur, comme beaucoup l'appelaient, nous laisse un lourd héritage. La tâche de ceux qui lui succéderont ne sera pas aisée pour poursuivre et renforcer ce qu'il a établi avec autant de persistance, d'intelligence, d'habileté et de dévouement, avec la coopération d'un vaste réseau d'amitiés et de complicités, à travers les continents, les tendances politiques, les institutions et les gouvernements. Il a marqué l'Institut, certes, mais aussi tant de personnalités et d'individus, ici et ailleurs. Il nous faut maintenant reprendre et continuer le meilleur de ce qu'il nous laisse, ensemble.

MV

CV and List of publications

Michel Veuthey has been Vice-President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law since January 2004 (Acting President from 1st March until 9th September 2007). He is Professeur associé at the “Institut du Droit de la Paix et du Développement” (IDPD) of the Nice University (France). Michel Veuthey had a long and distinguished career with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Geneva as a specialist in international humanitarian law. The positions he held at the ICRC include: Member of the Legal Division during the preparatory works and the sessions of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts (CDDH); Head of the International Organizations Division; Delegate General for Europe and North America; Assistant to the President of the ICRC; Head of Delegation, ICRC Regional Delegation for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean (Pretoria); and Legal Advisor for the 50th Anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. He also carried out short field assignments in Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Michel Veuthey holds a Bachelor of Law (1965) and Doctor of Law (1976) degrees from the University of Geneva. He has lectured widely on international humanitarian law and is the author of a book and many articles on the subject. He was Member of the Board of MSF-Switzerland for four years (2000-2004). He was the Academic Director of the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance (IDHA) organized in New York, Geneva and Dublin (2000-2003). He has been the Director of the Summer Courses on International Humanitarian Law in San Remo since 2000. He has been President of the “Cercle des Amitiés Internationales” in Geneva since 2005.

Publications

Book :

Guérilla et droit humanitaire, Genève, Institut Henry-Dunant, 1976, 431 pages. Deuxième édition augmentée : Genève, CICR, 1983, 451 p.

Articles :

“La Croix-Rouge et les conflits non internationaux” Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge, Genève, août 1970, pp. 467-480 (article paru également dans la même Revue en anglais, en espagnol et en allemand)

“Règles et Principes de Droit International Humanitaire Applicables dans la Guérilla”, Revue Belge de Droit International, Bruxelles, 2/1971, pp. 505-539

”Instructions militaires sur le traitement des prisonniers dans la guérilla” Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge, Genève, mars 1972, pp. 139-151 (paru également en anglais)

“La guérilla : le problème du traitement des prisonniers” Annales d’Etudes Internationales, Genève, 1972, pp. 119-136

“Instructions militaires relatives au traitement des prisonniers dans les situations de guérilla” in INSTITUT INTERNATIONAL DE DROIT HUMANITAIRE, Norme Umanitarie e Istruzioni Militari, Milano, Giuffrè, 1973 pp. 155-175

“Réfugiés et violence” Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge, Genève, février 1973, pp. 112-114

“Some Problems of Humanitarian Law in Non-International Armed Conflicts and Guerrilla Warfare” in BASSIOUNI, M.C. and NANDA, V.P. (Editors), A Treatise on International Criminal Law, Springfield, Ill., Charles C. Thomas, 1973, pp. 422-452

“Comportement et statut des combattants. Quelques réflexions”, Revue de droit pénal militaire et de droit de la guerre, Bruxelles No XII-2, 1973

“Guerres de libération et droit humanitaire”, Revue des droits de l’homme, Strasbourg,
Vol VII, No 1, pp. 98—106 (1974)

”Les conflits armés de caractère non-international et le droit humanitaire” in CASSESE, Antonio (Editor), Current Problems of International Law, Milano, Giuffrè, 1975, pp. 175-266

“The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Protection of Human Rights” in FORSYTH, C.F. and SCHILLER, J.E. (Editors), Human Rights : The Cape Town Conference. Proceedings of the First International Conference on Human Rights in South Africa, 22-26 January 1979, Cape Town, Juta & Co, 1979, pp. 207-223


“Implementation and Enforcement of Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law in Non-International Armed Coflicts : the Role of the International Committee of the Red Cross”,The American University Law Review, Washington DC, Vol. 33, Fall 1983, Nr 1, pp. 83-97

“Combatants : Who are they and what are their main mutual obligations ?” in BELGIAN RED CROSS, Guerilla and International Humanitarian Law, Brussels, 1984, pp. 35-46

“Pour une politique humanitaire” in SWINARSKI, C. (Ed.),Etudes et essais sur le droit international humanitaire et sur les principes de la Croix-Rouge en l’honneur de Jean Pictet, La Haye, Martinus Nijhoff, 1984, pp. 989-1009

“La collaboration internationale pour l’application du droit humanitaire” in HANGARTNER, Yvo, TRECHSEL, Stefan (Editors), Völkerrecht im Dienste des Menschen. Festschrift für Hans Haug, Bern/Stuttgart, Verlag Paul Haupt, 1986, pp. 379-399

“El Derecho a la supervivencia fundamento del Derecho humanitario” Revista Argentina de Derecho Militar, Buenos Aires, No 4, Julio 1986, pp. 15-25


“The Humanitarian Network : Implementing Humanitarian Law through International Co-operation” Bulletin of Peace Proposals Oslo, Vol. 18, No 2, April 1987, pp. 133-146

“The Global Reach of International Humanitarian Law” in HINGORANI, R.C. (Editor) Humanitarian Law. A Felicitation Volume in honour of Professor Jovica Patrnogic, New Delhi, Oxford & IBH Publishing Co, 1987, pp. 39-54

“Le droit à la vie, fondement du droit humanitaire” in PREMONT, Daniel (Rédacteur général), Essais sur le concept de “Droit de vivre” en mémoire de Yougindra Khushalani, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 1988, pp. 233-249

“La contribution du droit international humanitaire au rétablissement de la paix” in THURER, Daniel et al (Ed.),Im Dienst an der Gemeinschaft. Festschrift für Dietrich Schindler zum 65. Geburtstag, Basel/Frankfurt am Main, Verlag Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1989, pp. 341-360

“Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR) et la coopération humanitaire internationale”,Geneva Yearbook 1989, Genève, pp. 95-110

“Le droit à la survie, fondement du droit humanitaire” International Institute of Humanitarian Law Yearbook, San Remo, 1986-87 (1989), pp. 49-63

“Forces d’un symbole” Almanach de la Croix-Rouge suisse, Berne, 1991, pp. 62-65

“De la Guerre d’Octobre 1973 au Conflit du Golfe en 1991 : les appels du CICR pour la protection de la population civile” in DELISSEN, Astrid J.M. & TANJA, Gerard J. (Editors), Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict. Challenges Ahead. La Haye, Martinus Nijhoff, 1992, pp. 527-543

“The Contribution of International Humanitarian Law to the Restoration of Peace” in CAHILL, Kevin M. (Editor), A Framework for Survival. Health, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters, New York, 1993, pp. 41-51

“Assessing Humanitarian Law” in WEISS, Thomas G. and MINEAR, Larry (Editors) Humanitarianism Across Borders. Sustaining Civilians in Times of War, Boulder & London, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1993, pp. 125-149

“Les organisations non gouvernementales dans l’intervention humanitaire” in ACADEMIE UNIVERSELLE DES CULTURES, Intervenir ? Droits de la personne et raisons d’Etat. Forum international sur l’intervention. La Sorbonne, 16 et 17 décembre 1993, Paris, Bernard Grasset, 1994, pp. 266-267

“The International Committee of the Red Cross” in MacKINLAY, John (Ed.), A Guide for Peace Support Operations, Providence, RI, Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies, Brown University, 1996, pp. 121-132.

“L'humanitaire de la Croix-Rouge et d'Henri Dunant” in LAUBIER, Patrick de (Ed.),
L'An 2000. L'Humanitaire et les valeurs. Colloque du 8 mai 1996, Genève, Institut Henri-Dunant/Département de sociologie de l'Université de Genève, 1997, pp. 10-21.

“The Contribution of International Humanitarian Law to the Restoration and Maintenance of Peace” African Security Review, Johannesburg, Volume 7 1998 Number 5, pp. 26-35”

“The Contribution of the 1949 Geneva Conventions to International Security”, Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 18, Nr. 3, 1999, pp. 22-26.

“The Contribution of International Humanitarian Law to the Restoration of Peace” in CAHILL, Kevin M. (Editor), A Framework for Survival. Health, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters. Health, Human Rights and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters, New York, A joint publication of Routledge and the Center for International Health and Cooperation, 1999, pp. 109-121 (Revised and Updated)

"La contribution des Conventions de Genève de 1949 à la sécurité
internationale" in GODENZI, Alberto (Ed.) Konflikte verbinden, Freiburg
(Schweiz), Universitätsverlag, 2001, pp. 97-113.

"Remedies to Promote the Respect of Fundamental Human Values in
Non-International Armed Conflicts", The Israeli Yearbook on Human
Rights, Vol. 30 (2001), pp. 37-77.
« International Humanitarian Law and Spirituality » Refugee Survey Quarterly, Geneva, UNHCR, Vo. 21, No. 3, 2002, pp. 45-110

“Médecin et droit humanitaire” Médecine&Hygiène, Genève, Vol. 60,
Nr. 2408, 9 octobre 2002, pp. 1867-1869

“Humanitarian Ethical and Legal Standards” in Kevin M. CAHILL (Ed.) Basics of International Humanitarian Missions. New York, Fordham University Press and The Center for International Health and Cooperation, 2003, 350 p

«From Solferino to Kosovo : The Contribution of International Humanitarian Law to International Security » in John CAREY, William V. DUNLAP, R. John PRITCHARD (Editors). International Humanitarian Law. Origins. New York, Transnational Publishers, Ardsley, New York, 2003, pp. 207-238.

«Learning from History : Accession to the Conventions, Special Agreements, and Unilateral Declarations » Proceedings of the Bruges Colloquium. Relevance of International Humanitarian Law to Non-State Actors (25-26 October 2003) Collegium. Bruges, College of Europe, No. 27, Spring 2003, pp. 139-151 (Résumé en français).

-“Disregarding the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of War Victims” in CAHILL, Kevin M. (Editor) “Traditions, Values, and Humanitarian Action” New York, A joint publication of Fordham University Press and The Center for International Health and Cooperation, New York, 2003, pp. 276- 304

« Public Conscience in Humanitarian Action » Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 22, Number 4, 2003, pp. 197-224.

« Le droit international humanitaire face à la guerre contre le terrorisme »
SOS-ATTENTATS, Terrorisme, victimes et responsabilité pénale internationale, Paris, Calmann-Lévy, 2003, pp. 516-529

« La protection du personnel sanitaire et religieux en droit international humanitaire » in CONSEIL PONTIFICAL « JUSTICE ET PAIX ». CONGREGATION POUR LES EVEQUES. Le droit humanitaire et les aumôniers militaires. Cours international pour la formation des aumôniers catholiques militaires au droit humanitaire (Rome, 25-26 mars 2003). Cité du Vatican, 2004, pp. 72-82.

« Public Conscience in International Humanitarian Law Today » in : FISCHER, Horst, FROISSART, Ulrike, HEINTSCHELL von HEINEGG, Wolff, RAAP (Editors) Krisensicherung und Humanitärer Schutz – Crisis Management and Humanitarian Protection. Festschrift für Dieter Fleck, Berlin, Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag (BWV), 2004, pp. 611-642.

« The need for a universal humanitarian order » Foresight, Vol. 7, No 1 2005, pp. 26-46

« Implementing International Humanitarian Law : Old and New Ways » in : RAMCHARAN, Bertrand G. (Ed.) Human Rights Protection in the Field. Leiden/Boston, Martinus Nijhoff, 2006, pp. 87-117.

« Protecting Human Dignity in All Circumstances : Towards a Continuum of Protection » Refugee Survey Quarterly, Vol. 25, Issue 4, 2006, pp. 162-167.

« From Confrontation to Cooperation : From Criminal Justice towards Reconciliation – The Needs for Complementary Approaches » in BERUTO, Gian Luca (Ed.) Justice and Reconciliation. An Integrated Approach. SanRemo, International Institute of Humanitarian Law, 2007, pp. 113-119

CD-ROMs:

CD-ROM for the “International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance” (IDHA) Participants. Prepared by Michel Veuthey and Frédéric Zanetta. December 2000 (IDHA 7), May 2001 (IDHA 8), January 2002 (IDHA 9), May 2002 (IDHA 10), January 2003 (IDHA 11), May 2003 (IDHA 12).

CD-ROM for the Summer Course on International Humanitarian Law. Prepared by Michel Veuthey with Gianluca Beruto, San Remo (Italy), July 2001, July 2002, July 2003, July 2004, July 2005, July 2006, July 2007


14 September 2007
San Remo / Genève.
DG

Curriculum vitae

Family name : Veuthey
First name : Michel
Date and birth place : 17 January 1943, Geneva (Switzerland)
Marital status : Single
Citizenship : Switzerland
Address : 14, Pierre Longue, CH-1212 Geneva (Switzerland)
Email : mveuthey at mac.com
Education

1962: Collège de Genève, Genève ("Maturité classique")
1965: University of Geneva (Bachelor of Law)
1966-67: University of Munich (two semesters of law)
1969: Harvard Law School (two-month research period)
1973: Academy of International Law, The Hague
(Diploma awarded by the Research Centre)
1976: University of Geneva (Doctor of Laws)
1986: Heidelberg, Max-Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (one-month
research period)

Positions held at the ICRC (1967-2000)

1967: Member of the Legal Division
1968: Assigned to Greece (visits to political detainees)
1969-74: Member of the ICRC Delegation to the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts
1974: Assigned to Turkey (Cyprus crisis)
1977: Assigned to Mozambique (visits to refugees)
1978: Assigned to Viet Nam (visits to refugees)
1983: Assigned to Angola (contacts with UNITA)
1975-81: Assistant to the Director of Principles and Law

1982-92: Head, International Organizations Division
(In 1987 and 1988, this position was held simultaneously with that of Delegate General for Europe and North America.)

1992: Assigned to Washington, D.C. (fundraising mission)

Sept. 1994- Oct. 1997: Assistant to the President of the ICRC
Oct. 1997 - Dec. 1998: Head of Delegation, ICRC Regional Delegation
for Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean, Pretoria
January 1999 – March Legal Adviser, 50th Anniversary of the Geneva
2000: Conventions

Teaching/lecturing assignments

1967: University of Geneva – Assistant Lecturer, Faculty of Law

1974: Strasbourg, International Institute of Human Rights
Lecturer, course on humanitarian law applicable in non-international armed conflicts (July)

1976-1985: Strasbourg, International Institute of Human Rights
Leader, annual workshops on the implementation of humanitarian law (July)

1986: Strasbourg, International Institute of Human Rigths,
Lecturer, course on international humanitarian law (July)

1990-92: New York University School of Law
Joint organizer and lecturer, Annual seminars for
diplomats on international humanitarian law

1992: Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva
Joint organizer and lecturer, annual course for diplomats on international humanitarian law

1996: University of Fribourg (Switzerland)
Lecturer, course on humanitarian law (24 January)

1997: University of Dublin (RCSI, Ireland)
Lecturer, course on humanitarian ethics and
humanitarian diplomacy (5 July), at the first "International
Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance" (IDHA) organized by
The Center for International Health and Cooperation.

1998: City University of New York (CUNY)
Lecturer, course on humanitarian ethics and humanitarian diplomacy, at the second IDHA organized by The Center for International Health and Cooperation

1999: CUNY and RCSI, Lecturer and Tutor at the third IDHA
organized by The Center for International Health and Cooperation in Geneva in February

CUNY and RCSI, Lecturer and Tutor at the fourth IDHA
organized by The Center for International Health and Cooperation in Dublin in July

2000: Academic Coordinator of IDHA 5 (Geneva, 30 January-26 February).

Academic Director of IDHA 6 (New York, 11 June – 7 July 2000).


2001: - Adjunct Professor, Fordham University Law School, New York (-2003)
- Lectures on IHL in Morocco (14-20 January)
- Academic Director, IDHA 7 (Geneva, 5 February-2 March)
- Lectures on IHL in Algeria (19-20 May)
- Academic Director, IDHA 8-12 (New York and Geneva, 2000-2003)
- Director, Summer Course on International Humanitarian Law,
International Institute of Humanitarian Law (San Remo, 2001- )

2004 - : - Associate Professor, I.D.P.D., University of Nice Sophia Antipolis
www.droit-international-humanitaire.org

Related activities

1993: Research - On the relationship between emergency assistance, rehabilitation and development, as part of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) "Continuum" project. This entailed compiling an inventory of all current research on this topic as well as proposals for the creation of a researchers' network on Internet.


Evaluation reports - On the International Institute of Humanitarian
Law (IIHL) in San Remo, at the joint request of the IIHL and the ICRC;

- On international relations between the ICRC and the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Member of the Board, “Geneva Foundation to Protect Health in War” (1999-2004)

Member of the Board of MSF-Switzerland (December 2000 – June 2004)

Vice-President of the Geneva “Cercle des Amitiés Internationales” (2002 - 2004)

President of the Geneva “Cercle des Amitiés Internationales” (2005 - )
http://cercleamities.romandie.com

Member of the Board, Martin Ennals Foundation (“Martin Ennals Award for Human
Rights Defenders”) (December 2003 - )

Vice-President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law (January 2004 - )

Acting President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law
(1 March- 9 September 2007) www.iihl.org

The International Institute of Humanitarian Law has the honour of communicating that its General Assembly met in Sanremo (Italy) on Sunday, 9 September 2007, where it elected its new Council, executive body of the Institute, as well as its new President for a mandate of four years.



The Members of the new Council (2007 – 2011) are the following twelve persons:



· Dr. Mohammed Al-Hadid (Jordan), Chairman of the Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent; President of the Jordan Red Crescent

· Gen. Erwin Dahinden (Switzerland), Director of International Relations of the Swiss Armed Forces

· Dr. Baldwin De Vits (Belgium), Legal Adviser to the Secretary-General of NATO

· Prof. Yoram Dinstein (Israel), Professor Emeritus at Tel Aviv University; Expert on IHL

· Prof. Jacques Forster (Switzerland), Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross; Professor Emeritus at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies

· Prof. Wolff HEINTSCHEL von HEINEGG (Germany), Professor at Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder; Expert on IHL

· Dr. Marie Jacobsson (Sweden), Principal Legal Adviser on International Law to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Member of the UN International Law Commission

· Dr. Michael MEYER (United Kingdom), Head of International Law at the British Red Cross

· Amb. Maurizio MORENO (Italy), Diplomatic Advisor to the Italian Deputy Prime Minister

· Prof. Fausto POCAR (Italy), President of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

· Amb. William H. TAFT IV (USA), Warren Christopher Professor of the Practice of International Law and Diplomacy at the Stanford Law School; Expert on IHL; Former Legal Advisor to the U.S. Department of State

· Prof. Michel Veuthey (Switzerland), Vice-President of the International Institute of Humanitarian Law; Associated Professor at the “Institut du Droit de la Paix et du Développement” of the University of Nice

The new Council unanimously elected Amb. Maurizio MORENO as the new President of the Institute.

Michel VEUTHEY was re-confirmed as Vice-President; he will be responsible for the Institute’s Liaison Office to the United Nations and other International Organisations in Geneva.