Cyber has been around for over a decade and yet we are still faces with a situation of a very weak or rather no regulation. This is being heavily influenced by our weak technological development and due to the nature of cyberspace and the Internet. Cyber warfare poses interesting questions for us. It is one of a kind type of warfare, the one we cannot see or feel, but it‘s impacts are instantaneous and potentially devastating. States and scholars agree on that. This thesis attempts to explore possibilities of application of existing international laws to amend this situation and answer the questions if it is adequate or at all possible. While scholars are still arguing about the basics of what cyber warfare and cyberspace actually is, it keeps on evolving. States on the other hand have recognized the potential threat of cyber warfare a long time ago and are attempting to mend the existing legal void, however not successfully. The effects of their efforts are limited only to a small number of States. States who are not willing to give up their cyber capability would also stay clear from such international legislation. International treaties and State practice were analyzed in search of a way to accommodate cyber warfare under the current regime. The findings show that application of existing legal basis to cyber warfare is at best difficult and strained. The reality is that cyber warfare does not fit adequately under any of the legal umbrellas at the moment. Application of... [to full text] / Kibernetinis karas jau egzistuoja daugiau nei dešimtmeti tačiau mes vis dar turime labai silpną šio reiškinio reguliavimą. Tokia situacija yra stipriai įtakota mūsų silpnu techniniu galimybių bei interneto struktūros. Kibernetinis karas yra labai keblus. Tai yra naujoviškas kariavimo būdas kurio mes nematome, bet jo pasekmes gali būti žaibiškos ir niokojančios. Mokslininkai ir pasaulio valstybės tai jau seniai pripažino. Šis darbas bando atskleisti galimybes tarptautines teises reguliavimui kibernetinio karo atžvilgiu, jeigu tai iš viso yra įmanoma. Tačiau mokslininkai vis dar ginčijasi dėl kibernetinio karo ir kibernetines erdvės terminologijos, tuo tarpu kibernetinio karo grėsme tik didėja. Pasaulio valstybes tai suprasdamos bando ištaisyti teisės trukumus, tačiau nesėkmingai. Bet kokie pasiūlymai ir susitarimai galioja tik nedideliam valstybių ratui. O didžiosios valstybės tuo tarpu nenoriai atsisakytu savo kibernetinio pajėgumo. Darbe buvo išanalizuotos tarptautinės sutartys bei valstybių praktika bandant pritaikyti esamus režimus kibernetinio karo reguliacijai. Darytinos išvados, kad esamos tarptautinės teisinės bazės taikymas geriausiu atveju yra sudėtingas ir nenatūralus. Realybė yra tai, kad kibernetiniam karui netinka nei vienas režimas. O toks jo taikymas, deja sukelia daugiau problemų nei buvo prieš tai. Tačiau dar nėra išsemtos visos galimybės ir ateitis gali parodyti teisingą sprendimą. Tuo tarpu valstybes yra pasiruošusios vesti derybas dėl tarptautinės... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Efter Andra Världskriget och författandet samt ratificerandet av den traditionella folkrätten har huvuddelen av de väpnade sammandrabbningarna haft karaktären av icke-internationella konflikter med en asymmetrisk uppsättning aktörer. Samtidigt har den värst drabbade aktören kommit att vara civilbefolkningen. Syftet med denna uppsats är att problematisera skyddet av civilbefolkningen i den nya tidens konflikter. I uppsatsen genomförs en kvalitativ textanalys av Säkerhetsrådets resolutioner och missionsspecifika strategier för skydd av civila i de tre FN-missionerna UNMIS, UNAMID och MONUC. Resultatet av analysen problematiseras därefter utifrån van Crevelds non-trinitarian theory för att undersöka vilka problem det finns med att tillämpa det traditionella folkrättsliga skyddet av civila i nya tidens konflikter. Det sammanvägda resultatet av studien visar att det finns problem med att tillämpa det traditionella folkrättsliga skyddet av civila i nya tidens konflikter, och att ett av huvudproblemen är att skyddet endast tycks adresseras av världssamfundet. / After the Second World War, and the creation and ratification of the traditional international law, the majority of the armed clashes has had the character of non-international conflicts with an asymmetric set of actors. Meanwhile, the most affected actor has come to be the civilian population. The purpose of this study is to problematize the protection of civilians in the conflicts of the new era. A qualitative method is used in the study in order to analyze the Security Council’s resolutions and mission specific strategies for the protection of civilians in the three UN missions UNMIS, UNAMID and MONUC. The result of the analysis is then problematized with van Creveld’s non-trinitarian theory in order to investigate what problems there are in applying the international humanitarian legal protection of civilians in the conflicts of the new era.The aggregated result of the study show that there are problems in applying the traditional international legal protection of civilians in the conflicts of the new era, and that one of the main problems is that the protection only seems to be a subject for the international community.

The jus in bello proportionality rule establishes an upper boundary on how much collateral damage combatants can cause whilst striking a lawful target and its associated rule on precautions in attack compels them to take all feasible measures to properly understand the situation on the ground and to mitigate civilian harm. Proportionality and precautions in attack have been codified in API for over forty years, but in that time, it has been difficult to hold troops and their leaders accountable for breaches of these rules. In this study, I examine several reasons for why these rules have been difficult to apply ex post by considering the strategic motivations of state officials and prosecutors. Specifically, I propose a game-theoretic model which describes the decisions that state officials and prosecutors have historically made, and I explore what changes to this model would prompt these actors to behave differently. The model was developed using insights gained from legal case studies, archival research and a series of interviews with relevant actors. It suggests, inter alia, that to induce state officials to support a stricter liability standard for unlawful attacks, they must either ascribe much more value to legitimacy than to the success of future military operations, or they must perceive the success of future military operations to be unaffected by the possibility of losing criminal or civil adjudication. State officials may perceive losing a civil case based on state liability as being less likely to affect the success of future military operations compared with criminal liability against individual troops. Therefore, state officials may be inclined to support a stricter civil liability standard, if they believed it would help the state to secure greater legitimacy.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-07T14:27:10Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 ArquivoTotal.pdf: 1257192 bytes, checksum: 61bc92d741b899fe160e5a3aef08fc87 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-05-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The object of this work is the problem of the effectiveness of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) rules regarding the protection of the environment in times of armed conflict. The phenomenon of the deliberate destruction of natural environment to meet military decisions in war scenarios is being used as a battle strategy that affects the nature, makes it a silent victim and endangers a healthy quality of life for this and future generations. These are graves breaches that face difficult legal enforcement, which were chronicled in recent years, for example, in conflicts in the Gulf (1992), Kosovo (1999), Lebanon (2006) and Palestine (2009). Despite the regulations produced by the instruments of IHL, the effectiveness of these normative acts just hampered by the lack of definition of the legal requirements for establishing the environmental damage resulting from military maneuvers, or the difficulty in meeting the high threshold of existing requirements. The problem arises when part of international literature takes humanitarian system for closed and self-contained, while other authors conceive the possibility of, given its ineffectiveness in protecting nature during hostilities, making it permeable to other special legal regimes such as Human Rights and Environmental Law. For the purposes of this study, given the absence of express incompatibility between the humanitarian and environmental special branches, facing the problem means stimulating greater interaction between the leges speciales of IHL and International Environmental Law, as a way of expanding the canons of nature conservation. Therefore, it sustains the viability of both formal and substantive interaction between these systems in the process of "greening" of humanitarian law, for the purpose of carrying out the protection of the physical environment during armed conflict. / O presente trabalho tem por objeto o problema da eficácia das normas de Direito Internacional Humanitário (DIH), em confronto com a proteção ao meio ambiente, no contexto de conflitos armados. O fenômeno do aniquilamento intencional do meio ambiente para cumprir metas e decisões militares, em cenários bélicos, vem sendo usado como estratégia de batalha que afeta a natureza tornando-a vítima silenciosa e comprometendo a sadia qualidade de vida para esta e futuras gerações. Tratam-se de delitos de requintada crueldade e de difícil enfrentamento legal, que foram historiados, nos últimos anos, por exemplo, nos conflitos do Golfo (1992), Kosovo (1999), Líbano (2006) e Palestina (2009). Apesar da regulamentação produzida pelos instrumentos de DIH, a eficácia normativa desses atos acaba prejudicada pela ausência de definição dos requisitos legais para a fixação do dano ambiental resultante de manobras militares, ou pela dificuldade em cumprir o rigor dos requisitos existentes. O problema surge quando correntes doutrinárias enxergam o sistema humanitário como regime jurídico fechado e autossuficiente (self-contained regime), ao passo que outras concebem a possibilidade de, diante da ineficácia em proteger a natureza durante hostilidades, torná-lo permeável a outros regimes especiais, como os Direitos Humanos e o Direito Ambiental. Para os fins deste trabalho, ante a inexistência de incompatibilidade entre os ramos especiais humanitário e ambiental, o enfrentamento do problema passa pela maior interação entre as leges speciales do DIH e do Direito Internacional Ambiental, como modo de ampliar os cânones de conservação natural. Sendo assim, sustenta-se a viabilidade formal e material de interação entre esses sistemas, em processo de ecologização do direito humanitário, com o propósito de efetivar a proteção do meio ambiente físico durante conflitos armados.

(English) The thesis focuses on the issue of humanitarian assistance under international humanitarian law. The topic was chosen based on the personal interest of the author of the thesis and also based on the fact that it is a current and very discussed issue. The thesis is concerned with the legal sources governing the concept of humanitarian assistance. It also focuses on the history of the concept paying special attention to its modern development and to the principles on which it is based. Individual chapter is dedicated to the issue of providers and beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance. Special attention is also given to the issue of consent with the facilitation of humanitarian assistance, whether it is necessary to sough such a consent and from whom. Significant part of the thesis focuses on the facilitation and distribution of humanitarian assistance and the obligations of the third states. The first chapter of the thesis is dedicated to the introduction, definition of the term "humanitarian assistance", aims and goals of the thesis, and also to the methods and sources. The second chapter focuses in a great detail on legal sources relevant to the thesis. First, it pays attention to the treaty law. Thus, it describes the relevant provisions of the Geneva Convention IV, the Additional...

'International humanitarian law' (IHL) has long differentiated between international and non-international armed conflicts, regulating the latter, at least at the level of treaty law, far less than the former. One of the starkest examples of this is in the case of administrative detention on security grounds or 'internment'. Thus, IHL applicable in international armed conflicts establishes a seemingly robust regime regarding internment. As such, it specifies the limited grounds on which an individual may be interned, the procedural safeguards that must be provided to internees, and the point at which the internee must be released. In the conventional IHL provisions applicable in non-international armed conflicts, on the other hand, no equivalent rules are made explicit. In addition, the application in such situations of international human rights law (IHRL), which also contains procedural rules applicable to detention, is considered by many to be very controversial. This has led to considerable confusion over the current state of the law governing detention in non-international armed conflict, and it is here that some of the most controversial practices and intractable debates within IHL of the last decade have developed. The present thesis seeks to clarify the law here and does so through a comprehensive examination of both IHL and IHRL. It begins with a discussion of the general context in which the thesis falls, i.e. the distinction between international and non-international armed conflicts. This is considered from an historical perspective, considering the basis for the distinction as well as its appropriateness in contemporary international law. Having considered this general question, the thesis then moves on to an examination of the current lex lata with regard to internment in non-international armed conflicts, with a comprehensive examination of both IHL and IHRL. Regarding IHL, it is shown that, whilst there remains a dearth of conventional and customary rules here, one can discern a general prohibition of internment that is not necessary as a result of the conflict. The application of the IHRL rules on detention in non-international conflicts and their interaction with relevant rules of IHL are then explored, with substantial reference to the practice of both states and human rights treaty bodies. It is shown that, absent derogation, human rights treaty rules continue fully to regulate detentions by states in relation to non-international armed conflicts, alongside the minimal rules of IHL. However, it is also demonstrated that the current law remains inadequate in this area. First, there is significant disagreement between the human rights treaty bodies on the extent to which derogation from these rules is permitted. Second, persons detained in non-international conflicts by non-state armed groups or by states with no human rights treaty obligations are protected by the far more basic customary rules in this area. The thesis, therefore, concludes with a set of concrete proposals for developing the law here, in a manner that builds upon and clarifies the current obligations of all states and non-state armed groups.

Magister Legum - LLM / This mini-thesis analyses the international legal framework governing the protection of the natural environment during armed conflicts. It critically examines the normative rules in international humanitarian law and international environmental law in respect of environmental damage during armed conflicts and it highlights the strengths and shortcomings of international law in this regard. Furthermore, this thesis investigates how the regulatory structures of the African Union (AU) address the problem of environmental damage during armed conflict. It draws on the aforementioned analyses to determine how regional law in Africa differs from the international regime and in what ways the regional framework may serve to complement the international legal regime in order to strengthen the protection of the environment during armed conflict on the continent.

Magister Legum - LLM / The International Committee of the Red Cross/Crescent (ICRC) has been the only agency promoting the observance of the law of armed conflict. It has invested considerably in finding solutions to protecting people and regulates the means and methods of warfare. Throughout the development of the law of armed conflict, the protection of the environment was never the centre of focus. From the early 1868 Declaration of Saint Petersburg to the Hague Regulations of 1907, attention was given to weakening the military forces of the enemy and the right of the belligerents not to destroy or seize the enemy’s property, unless such destruction or seizure be imperatively demanded by the necessities of war. Through AP I, the basic principle of IHL was reaffirmed. The concepts of military necessity and proportionality became clearer, permitting only those acts of war which are proportional to the lawful objective of a military operation. Considering the cruelty experienced through the crises that occurred in the RC, it is therefore imperative for the administration to enforce their observation. In the light of the above background the aims of this research paper are to seek to explore the challenges that the current RC administration is facing in implementing IHL and IEL principles. In addition, the research paper will analyse the possibilities to promote the implementation of IHL and IEL instruments within the public domain, mostly the army, to dissipate any ignorance that occur. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has also made it clear that an obligation rests upon states to take environmental considerations into account during armed conflict in so far as these relate to states’ military objectives

"This study will demonstrate how the ICTR is developing and enforcing international humanitarian law (IHL). Already it has successfully sent out a clear message to leaders worldwide that gross human rights violations of this nature will no longer go unpunished, providing a form of deterrence. The ICTR continues to develop a rich jurisprudence on IHL that will be examined in this study. Being the first international tribunal to convict a person of genocide, the first to recognise rape as an element of genocide, and to try a woman for the crime of genocide, the ICTR jurisprudence will prove invaluable. The rules of procedure adopted by the ICTR that have greatly facilitated bringing to justice high ranking officials shall also be examined. The study will contribute to the ongoing discussion on the role of the ICTR in developing and enforcing IHL. The study will specifically give insight on how the ICTR helps the development of IHL from an African perspective, thus contributing to ending impunity not only in Rwanda but in Africa as a whole. ... Chapter two will give a background to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, which led to the establishment of the ICTR. This section will discuss the jurisdiction, structure, and procedures of the ICTR. Chapter three will examine the development and nature of IHL and the problems regarding its enforceability. Chpater four will address the contribution made by the ICTR to the development and enforcement of IHL. Chapter five will offer some concluding remarks." -- Chapter 1. / Supervised by Mr. Emmanuel Yaw Benneh at the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2001. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

In war military necessity to some extent justifies breaches to some international humanitarian law rules. However, there is no justifiable causes for breaching rules with the objective to reduce humanitarian suffering. Professor Gabriella Blum is the creator of the humanitarian necessity theory which investigates the possibility for humanitarian necessity as a ground for freedom from responsibility in armed conflicts.  By applying the humanitarian necessity theory to the Moscow Theater Hostage Crisis case this thesis strives to investigate how a humanitarian necessity theory would affect international humanitarian law on an operational level of war.  The result of the analysis shows that the theory would weaken existing international humanitarian law and have high risks of blurring the limits between legitimate targets and protected persons. The implementation of the theory could result in creating an even more complex environment where the humanitarian necessity theory causes negative humanitarian effects instead of decreasing humanitarian suffering.