Security is an all-encompassing term of art which is subject to diverse interpretations and understandings. It includes notions of protection against transnational threats, including terrorism, inter- and intra-state conflict, nuclear proliferation, forced migration, violation of women's rights, climate change, etc. The papers in this collection provide fresh voices in the security debate, uniting scholars from different fields of law and philosophy to address normative gaps in interpretation, evolution and application. Part I considers calls for an expanded mandate for the UN Security...

This work reconsiders and critically evaluates the complex international legal framework which seeks to regulate wars of national liberation in the light of two fascinating case studies. It tests the effectiveness of both the jus ad bellum and jus in bello aspects of the current legal framework by applying it to self-determination wars waged in the South Moluccas and Aceh by armed groups against Indonesia. The book highlights the various difficulties inherent in the current legal framework as well as the ad hoc and unpredictable practice of States in relation to its...

While all armed conflicts are marked by violations of international humanitarian law, non-international armed conflicts appear to be characterised by even more serious violations of international humanitarian law on a colossal scale. This study is aimed at understanding the possible factors that may cause parties to non-international armed conflicts to engage in violations despite the fact that not only international humanitarian law but also other bodies of rules (e.g. legal and moral) impose restrictions and obligations similar to international humanitarian law. Somalia, which for over two...

In 2009 it was ten years since the adoption of the Second Protocol to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of an Armed Conflict. To celebrate this anniversary, a variety of contributions, focussing on the legal and cultural aspects of the Protocol are presented by Van Woudenberg and Lijnzaad. The innovative aspects of the Second Protocol such as enhanced protection, criminal responsibility and jurisdiction, and the protection of cultural property in armed conflicts not of an international character are addressed. Some country-specific studies are...

Taking the April 2003 rejection by Israel's Supreme Court of a petition to ban flechette use rounds in the densely populated Gaza Strip as its point of departure, this innovative and interdisciplinary book offers the only in-depth study on flechette weapons conducted to date. Its timeliness is demonstrated in the 2009 Goldstone Report's call for an urgent UNGA discussion on such weapons' future legality. The book's first part reviews flechette weapon development and use during the Vietnam War as well as the consequent efforts to ban them. It then turns to the Israeli case: the use in Lebanon,...

By considering different international legal sources, including humanitarian law, human rights and criminal law, this book seeks to identify the rules applicable to International Military Missions engaged in different actions in the context of peace operations.

The aim of this new collection of essays is to engage in analysis beyond the familiar victor's justice critiques. The editors have drawn on authors from across the world -- including Australia, Japan, China, France, Korea, New Zealand and the United Kingdom -- with expertise in the fields of international humanitarian law, international criminal law, Japanese studies, modern Japanese history, and the use of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The diverse backgrounds of the individual authors allow the editors to present essays which provide detailed and original analyses of the Tokyo...

This volume continues the work of the Preparatory Commission of the International Criminal Court by developing 'elements' for ordering, instigating and aiding and abetting the commission of international crimes under Article 25(3)(b) and (c) of the Rome Statute. The development of proposed elements for these accessorial modes of liability is necessary because while detailed elements for the substantive crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court were identified in the 'Elements of Crimes', no such elements were elaborated for the modes of liability in those crimes. The proposed elements in...

Sexual violence is a particular brand of evil that women have endured-more than men-during armed conflicts, through the ages. It is a menace that has continued to challenge the conscience of humanity-especially in our times. At the international level, basic laws aimed at preventing it are not in short supply. What is needed is a more conscious determination to enforce existing laws. This book explores ways of doing just that; thereby shoring up international legal protection of women from sexual violence in armed conflicts.

International law has lacked a widely-accepted definition of armed conflict despite the essential human rights and other rules that depend on such a definition. During armed conflict, government forces have "combatant immunity" to kill without warning. They may detain enemy forces until the end of the conflict without the requirement to provide a speedy and fair trial. Governments may have asylum obligations or neutrality obligations based on the existence of armed conflict. To fill this gap in our knowledge of the law, the International Law Association's Committee on the Use of Force...