On October 1, 1990 the Rwandan Patriotic Front launched a war from and with the support of the Republic of Uganda against Rwanda. This war was accompanied by unspeakable violations of International Humanitarian Law. Both conflicting parties violated the basic rules protecting the civilian population in situations of armed conflicts. The United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of its Charter, passed resolution 955 of November 8, 1994 establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda to prosecute alleged responsible of such violations. This study investigates the background of the ICTR and questions the nature of the conflict that prompted the Security Council to establish another ad hoc international criminal tribunal after the one established for the former Yugoslavia. It further inquires into its jurisprudence and reflects critically on the ICTR's approach to serious violations of IHL under Article 3 Common to the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II. / Jurisprudence / LL. M. (Law)

The occurrence of internal armed conflict in Africa has increased over the last two decades. As such, Africa continues to be viewed by many as a troubled continent. In an attempt to avoid further conflict in Africa, organisations such as the United Nations have implemented comprehensive tools and strategies to prevent further conflicts from occurring. However, the genocide in Rwanda and the on-going unrest in Sudan have shown that there is still a lot of work to be done. In both these cases, the conflicts took place or escalated even with UN presence on ground. This paper will thus examine the UN's legal role in the prevention of internal armed conflict and establish the type of lessons that could be learnt from Rwanda and Sudan. / Public, Constitutional, & International / LL.M.

La presente ricerca, con un approccio qualitativo-ermeneutico, esplora il fenomeno del conflitto armato colombiano, con un focus specifico sul processo di reintegrazione sociale e sull’esperienza soggettiva come ex sequestrati e come ex guerriglieri. La ricerca consente un’esplorazione in profondità, integrando la dimensione politico-sociale con quella clinica, lasciando alla luce tre vertici d’analisi; Studio 1: le rappresentazioni sociali intorno alle figure di vittime e di carnefice e alle dinamiche relazionali del conflitto armato colombiano; 
 Studio 2: l’approccio, i metodi e le tecniche di lavoro degli operatori che si occupano di reintegrazione sociale di ex sequestrati (nella Fondazione País Libre) e di ex guerriglieri (nell’Agenzia Colombiana per la Reintegrazione, “ACR”); 
 Studio 3: le matrici familiari e i suoi principali risorse relazionali che hanno supportato i soggetti durante la loro esperienza come sequestrati e come guerriglieri e una volta rientrano in società. Sono analizzati i tre assi delle matrici familiari (le origini, i rapporti di coppia e il passaggio generazionale –Cigoli & Tamanza, 2009- e le risorse che possono alimentare la resilienza familiare (Walsh, 2005) Gli studi cercano di superare la dicotomia vittima/carnefice, che organizza l’opinione pubblica colombiana e le rappresentazioni sociali delle figure di ex-sequestrati (le vittime) ed ex-guerriglieri (i carnefici). I risultati degli studi effettuati possono fornire strumenti utili per orientare l’intervento clinico e favorire il processo di reintegrazione sociale. Si presentano a sua volta nuovi approcci che includono il lavoro decisivo delle comunità e delle famiglie, che si presentano come attori partecipativi e non passivi e vittimizzati come generalmente sono trattati. / The current research (with a qualitative-hermeneutic approach) explores the phenomenon of Colombian armed conflict. It is specifically focus on social reintegration process and the subjective experience of ex combatants and ex abducted people. The study of the phenomenon in its clinical and sociopolitical complexity, articulates three vertices of analysis: Study 1: Social representations, around the current armed conflict and its involved figures. Study 2: The principal models of intervention offered by two organizations that work directly with ex abducted people (País Libre Foundation) and with demobilized people from illegal groups (Colombian Agency for Reintegration, “ACR”). Study 3: Family patterns, and its principal relational resources tan have supported subjects during their experience as abducted or combatants and once their return to society. The three axes of family patterns were explored (the origins, the couple relationship and the generational passage –Cigoli & Tamanza-) and the resources that can support family resilience (Walsh, 2005). Results break traditional polarization on the lectures around Colombian armed conflict. The present research transcends the individual study of involved participants and of implications of traumatic facts, to explore inside their relationships and resources. New approaches are presented to orientate interventions in clinical psychology that could be helpful to social reintegration process. It is also presented a new approach that includes the decisive role of families and communities as active actors instead of passive and victimized as they have been generally treated.

L'incorporation du Statut de Rome de la Cour pénale internationale dans l’ordre juridique d'un État partie représente pour celui-ci un énorme engagement envers la justice, la protection et la garantie des droits fondamentaux de la personne humaine. La situation est particulièrement préoccupante dans le cas de la Colombie où la violation de ces droits fondamentaux a historiquement été notoire au cours du conflit armé interne qui sévit encore dans le pays aujourd’hui. Du fait de la ratification du Statut de Rome par l'État colombien, ce pays a le devoir de privilégier la recherche de la vérité, de la justice, de la réparation intégrale et les garanties de non-répétition pour les victimes du conflit armé. Ce traité international vise à empêcher la mise en place de règles consacrant l'impunité et empêchant de connaître la vérité de faits, comme ce qui a longtemps été le cas dans ce pays et qui a entraîné la prolongation du conflit pendant tant d'années. L'adoption du Statut de Rome par l'État colombien a produit différents effets juridiques dans le droit interne colombien. Certains de ces effets peuvent être observés dans les lois adoptées par le Congrès de la République ainsi que dans les arrêts de la Cour constitutionnelle et de la Cour suprême de justice où s'expriment les obligations internationales de l'État, rattachées au respect du système universel des droits de l'homme. Ce mémoire vise ainsi entre autres à exposer de quelle manière les dispositions sur les amnisties et la Loi Justice et paix rendent inefficace la mise en œuvre législative du Statut de Rome en Colombie. / The incorporation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court into the domestic legal system of a State Party constitutes an enormous commitment to justice and the protection and guarantee of fundamental human rights. This situation is especially interesting in Colombia, where the violation of human rights has been historically well-known during the internal armed conflict in which the country has gone through for several years now. Since its ratification of the Rome Statute, Colombia has a duty to search for truth and justice, as well as providing for integral repair and guarantees of non-repetition for the victims of the armed conflict. The treaty does not allow the creation of rules that allow for impunity and prevent knowledge of the truth which can explain that the conflict has persisted for so many years. The implementation of the Rome Statute by Colombia adjustment has produced different legal effects into its legal system. Some of these effects can be observed in certain laws adopted by the Congress of the Republic and in the Constitutional’s Court and the Supreme Court of Justice’s judgements. These laws and judgments have relied on the international obligations of the country contained in human rights treaties and the Statute of Rome. This master thesis exposes, among other things, how the provisions of laws relating to amnesties and the Law Justice and peace make the Rome Statute inefficient in Colombia.

L’autorisation de recourir à la force est une pratique par laquelle le Conseil de sécurité permet à des États membres des Nations Unies ou à des accords ou organismes régionaux, voire au Secrétaire général des Nations Unies de recourir à la coercition militaire. Elle est l’une des circonstances excluant l’illicéité face à l’interdiction de recourir à la force dans les relations internationales dont la règle est posée à l’article 2,§ 4 de la Charte des Nations Unies. Il est évident que cette pratique ne correspond pas clairement à la lettre de la Charte mais elle tire sa légitimité du fait qu’elle permet au Conseil de sécurité de s’acquitter de sa mission principale de maintien de la paix et de la sécurité internationales, étant donné que le système de coercition militaire prévu par la Charte s’avère inapplicable dans la pratique. Il reste que cette pratique est empreinte d’ambiguïté : elle apparaît tantôt comme une intervention des Nations Unies, tantôt comme une action unilatérale au profit de certaines puissances capables de mener des opérations de grande envergure. Cette ambiguïté est encore exacerbée par le problème de l’autorisation présumée que certainsÉtats pourraient déduire des actes du Conseil de sécurité, pour intervenir dans divers conflits. Dans les faits, la pratique de l’autorisation de recourir à la force semble actualiser une tendance belliciste qui caractérisait les époques antérieures. Elle peut, si l’on n’y prend garde, refondre, par pans entiers, les legs du droit contre la guerre (jus contra bellum) issu du XXème siècle, droit qui a été le fruit de longues tribulations dans l’histoire des relations internationales. Le danger le plus grave est que des acquis chèrement négociés risquent d’être jetés par-dessus bord avec trop de facilité et sans délai, pour servir des visées à court terme. / Authorization to use force is a practice whereby the Security Council allows member States of the United Nations or regional arrangements or agencies or the Secretary General of the United Nations to use military coercion. Such authorization circumvents the wrongfulness of using force in international relations as prohibited by article 2, § 4 of the UN Charter. It is obvious that this practice does not match the letter of the Charter, but it derives its legitimacy from the fact that it allows the Security Council to fulfill its primary mission of maintaining peace and security, since the system of military coercion under the Charter is inapplicable in practice. Nonetheless, this practice is marked by ambiguity: sometimes it appears as a UN intervention, and yet sometimes as a unilateral action of certain powers capable of conducting major operations. This ambiguity is exacerbated by the issue of presumed consent to intervene in various conflicts that some States attribute to the Security Council. In fact, the practice of authorization reinforces a hawkish tendency that characterized earlier periods. It can, if unchecked, undo the legacy of the law against war (jus contra bellum) of the twentieth century, which was the fruit of much effort in the history of international relations. The most serious danger is that hard-won negotiated achievements be thrown easily overboard and without delay, in order to serve short term goals.

This diploma thesis with the topic of ,,The Concept of Serious Harm in Refugee Law" had three basic objectives. The first one was to analyse single notions which belong to the concept of serious harm. The second objective was to compare the concept of serious harm under the Qualification Directive and under the Czech Asylum Act. By means of the interpretation of single notions of serious harm and the comparison of the Qualification Directive with the Czech Asylum Act, I managed to answer the question ,,who is protected by Article 15 of the Qualification Directive and the second section of paragraph 14a in the Czech Asylum Act," which was the third basic objective of this diploma thesis, and at the same time its research question. My diploma thesis is structured into 6 chapters, further it contains the list of abbreviations, the introduction, the conclusion, the list of literature, the Czech and English abstract, and key words. The first chapter deals with the evolution of the concept of serious harm since the year 2001 till the contemporary version of the Qualification Directive from the year 2011, and with the incorporation of this concept into the Czech Asylum Act. From the depiction of history of the concept of serious harm in this chapter, it resulted how uneasy it was for the member states of...

La notion de participation directe aux hostilités n’a jamais été définie de manière précise au regard du droit international humanitaire. Cette ambiguïté a conduit à des interprétations divergentes du concept d’hostilités et des critères juridiques utilisés pour définir une participation directe par opposition à une participation indirecte (effort de guerre).D’ailleurs, les conflits contemporains posent de nouveaux défis quant à la définition et la mise en oeuvre de la notion de la participation directe aux hostilités. Les moyens de guerre de haute technicité (l’attaque de réseaux informatiques) et l’externalisation des forces armées (sociétés militaire privées), illustrent l’imbrication croissante des activités civiles et militaires et la difficulté à identifier précisément qui participe directement aux hostilités et quelles sont les mesures à prendre pour protéger ceux qui n’y participent pas directement. / The notion of direct participation in hostilities has never been precisely defined in international humanitarian law. This ambiguity has led to differing interpretations of the concept of hostilities and legal criteria imply a distinction from direct participation in hostilities as opposed indirect participation (war effort).Indeed, contemporary conflicts have given rise to further challenges in terms of defining and implementing the notion of direct participation in hostilities. The use of high-tech warfare (computer network attack), privatization of the armed forces (private military company), among others, illustrate the increased intermingling of civilian and military activities which make it difficult to determine who is taking a direct part in hostilities and what measures should be taken to protect those who are not directly participating.

Alors que la fin de la bipolarité s’est accompagnée du déclin de la guerre au niveau mondial, l’Afrique subsaharienne connaît depuis le début des années 1990, une résurgence de la violence armée dont la forme la plus courante est la guerre civile. L’Afrique Occidentale est l’une des régions les plus touchées par cette multiplication de conflits armés infraétatiques dont les trois plus importants ont été les guerres civiles libérienne, sierra-léonaise et ivoirienne. Cette conflictualité a donné lieu à l’émergence d’acteurs non étatiques qui, dans un contexte de mondialisation accrue, ont adopté le warlordism comme mode opératoire. Ces guerres internes, parfois qualifiées de « nouvelles guerres », sont à la fois le produit de la crise de l’Etat, de profondes inégalités horizontales, et de l’instrumentalisation des différences identitaires par certaines élites. Elles se sont développées au-delà du cadre national, avec l’implication de différents acteurs transnationaux, et ont favorisé l’émergence d’un véritable « système de guerre » ouest-africain. Elles sont également l’expression d’une remise en cause du modèle étatique westphalien. La conflictualité régionale qui est apparue en Afrique Occidentale post-Guerre froide invite donc à accorder davantage d’attention aux communautés de destin imbriquées qui de plus en plus, occupent une place centrale dans les dynamiques qui façonnent l’Afrique au sud du Sahara. / Whereas the end of bipolarity occurred along with the decline of war at the world level, Sub-Saharan Africa has experienced a surge of armed violence since the early 1990s, in the most common form of civil wars. West Africa is one of the areas mostly affected by the proliferation of intra-state armed conflicts, including three major civil wars in Liberia, Sierra Leone and the Ivory Coast. Such conflicts, sometimes called « new wars », have led to the emergence of non-state actors who act as warlords, in a context of spreading globalisation. These domestic wars are the result of state crisis, deep horizontal inequalities, and political instrumentalisation by some elites of identity-based differences. Through the involvement of various transnational actors, these armed conflicts have extended beyond the national framework and built an actual West-African « system of war ». They also challenge the Westphalian state-model. Post-Cold war regional conflicts in West Africa hence suggest an increased focus on overlapping communities of fate, which play a key-role in the dynamics shaping Sub-Saharan Africa.

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L’effectivité des droits de l’enfant en Côte d’Ivoire est soumise à une tension constante et fragile entre les normes internationales qui proclament ces droits et assurent leur garantie et les réalités locales qui sont celles d’un pays en développement. De surcroît, la Côte d’Ivoire a rencontré depuis plus de dix ans de graves problèmes d’instabilité politique et sociale à cause d’une crise armée qui a déstabilisé les régimes de protection dans tous les domaines où ceux-ci existaient auparavant. La situation de la protection des droits de l’enfant, essentiellement d’origine internationale et placée à ce titre, sous un contrôle international pouvait-elle échapper à ce contexte ? La thèse montre que l’intégration dans le droit national ivoirien des normes internationales de protection à travers une large participation de la Côte d’Ivoire à la plupart des instruments protégeant tant les droits de l’Homme en général que les droits de l’enfant en particulier, de même que la traduction nationale de ces droits selon les exigences constitutionnelles dans une importante législation pourraient donner une image d’effectivité. Cette image est cependant fausse. L’effectivité de ces droits, lorsqu’elle est mise à l’épreuve des réalités du pays, tombe sous le poids des manifestations des violations aussi diverses qu’inacceptables. C’est pourquoi des mesures pour une effectivité améliorée sont préconisées. Leur mise en œuvre pourrait garantir un meilleur avenir à tous les enfants de la Côte d’Ivoire. / The effectiveness of children’s rights in Ivory Coast is subject to a constant and fragile tension between the international standards that proclaim these rights and guarantee them and the local realities that are those of a developing country. In addition, for more than ten years, Ivory Coast has faced serious problems of political and social instability because of an armed crisis that has destabilized protection regimes in all areas where they previously existed. Could the situation of the protection of the rights of the child, mainly from international origin and placed under international control, escape this context? The thesis shows that the integration into Ivorian national law of international standards of protection through a wide participation of Ivory Coast in most instruments protecting both human rights in general and the rights of the child in particular, just as the national translation of these rights according to constitutional requirements into important legislation could give a sense of effectiveness. However, this feeling is fake. The effectiveness of these rights, when challenged by the realities of the country, falls under the weight of manifestations of violations as diverse as unacceptable. This is why measures for improved effectiveness are recommended. Their implementation could guarantee a better future for all children in Ivory Coast.