Historically, women in conflict and post-conflict situations have on the basis of their status been subjected to harmful and discriminatory practices which run contrary to international, regional and domestic provisions guaranteeing various human rights including the rights to freedom from torture, cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment; discrimination; violence; privacy and autonomous decision making within the context of healthcare etc. Whereas recent years have seen an improvement in State responses globally, in Nigeria the experiences of women in conflict and post-conflict situations remain deplorable. Despite the ratification of various international and regional treaties in this regard, issues revolving around access to safe abortion remain problematic. They are also further complicated by questions of holistic adoption and implementation of ratified instruments in this regard. Consequently, though consensus has been achieved on paper, implementation remains a mirage particularly across the Middle Belt region and the Northeast which are grappling with farmer-herder conflict and insurgency by proscribed armed groups respectively. This mini-dissertation discusses in-depth the current framework for the protection of women’s reproductive health and rights related to access to abortion services in conflict and post-conflict situations in Nigeria in view of international and regional human rights obligations, highlighting the challenges and prospects and identifies key opportunities for consideration in the protection of these rights by municipal law. This research is relevant to legal, ethical and social discourses as well as issues of policy formulation and implementation related to reproductive health and rights protection in conflict and post-conflict situations within Nigeria. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / NRF / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted

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The thesis functions as an overview of the protection of children used in hostilities and their targetability under international law, primarly in international humanitarian law. The author questions the established presumption, that children directly participating in hostilities, shall be equally targetable as their adult colleges and counter parts. In times of conflicts, international humanitarian law offers children a special protection status. The prohibition against recruitment and use of children under the age of 15 illustrates two of the most relevant protective regimes. Despite these protective rules, children directly participating in hostilities remain lawful targets and their special protection status becomes severely less useful. For these reasons, the author argues, that the presumption of equal target ability hinders the Special protection of children to have the practical impact for children used on the battlefield it intened to.The tremendous amounts of child soldiers recruited by non-state armed groups shows that the prohibition against recruitment and use aren't respected. However, the author argues that the ICC juris prudence and national initiatives illustrate that the presumption of equal targetability can be challenged under international law. And, that the special protection for children in times of conflict, and international law as a whole does motivate differanting rules for targeting children versus adults participating in hostilities. For arguments presumably made on moral grounds, military personnel are willing to put themselves at greater risk to spare the life of a child soldiers forced to take part in a conflict, he or she definitely did not start. The Vancuver principles and the The Canadian Armed Forces Joint Doctrine Note shows that states are willing to follow in these footsteps by adding extra precautionary measures in the planning state of a military operation and to completely differentiate the rules for targeting children and adults. Lastly, the author argues that the rules for targeting cultural property ( set out in the 1954 Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property), could be an example on how to differentiate the rules for targeting children. In this regard the author argues that, like cultural property, children directly participating in hostilities should only be lawfully targeable, at last resort, when there is no other way to fulfill the military advantage.

This doctrinal thesis centers around the topic of voluntary human shields as a complex phenomenon requiring further scholarly attention. Specifically, this paper acknowledges that the actions of certain voluntary shields renders their classification as civilians strenuous, in which it is explored if the notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities might apply. As such, the research question contemplates: To what extent, if at all, can voluntary human shields be considered as taking a direct part in hostilities when shielding lawful targets?  The analyses have concentrated on both a theoretical examination of the ICRC’s Interpretive Guidance, and on an empirical investigation into two cases of voluntary human shields: the Serbian citizens in 1999 and the Palestinian women in 2006. Evidently, the findings indicate that voluntary human shields can to some extent take a direct part in hostilities, while the generalizability of our results are appreciated. Ultimately, this thesis provides additional insights into the topic, as increasingly relevant and required within the contradictory and existing research field, while also anticipating avenues for future research.

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The purpose of this research paper is to examine how international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) are applied to the Guantánamo Bay detention center. This paper was completed through the research of international treaties, court cases, and secondary sources that thoroughly discussed issues pertaining to Guantánamo and international law. This paper first examines the differences between the two laws by looking at the particular roles each is meant to play in the subject of international law, as well as how the two have been applied thus far to the situation at Guantánamo. Second, the paper discusses the topic of whether or not IHL and IHRL should be mutually exclusive, or can be interpreted alongside each other. In addition, a discussion of the opposing viewpoints on this topic will be presented including the United States argument of lex specialis, and the opposing arguments of the international community. Chapter three will cover the topic of extraterritorial application and how it affects the international treaties and court cases that deal with issues pertinent to Guantánamo. The fourth chapter discusses the effects that Guantánamo has on the reputation of the United States internationally, and how it affects human rights around the world. Chapter five discusses possible recommendations in order to achieve the long-term goal of ending the Guantanamo Bay controversy, and protecting and promoting human rights everywhere.

"Child soldier from the perspective of International Law" (Thesis title) This diploma thesis deals with a protection of a child and relation between international humanitarian law and human rights law. The main emphasis is put on particular legal agreements governing status of children in armed conflicts and providing them with protection. In this work are also discussed merits of particular international conventions, as well as issues of their application and supervision. The first chapter pursues rise in interest of society in position of child soldiers and inspects motives and causes of participation of children in armed conflicts. After that the thesis explores historical connection between children and their involvement in armed conflicts. In the end it considers impact of those conflicts on physical and mental health of children and consequences, which arise by their involvement in armed conflicts. The second chapter focuses on defining fundamental terms such as child and armed conflict. Those terms are studied further in accordance with individual and different ways of interpretation of particular conventions. This chapter points out, that decisive criteria for the involvement of children in government's armed forces or non-state army and therefore for their protection is age. The difference...

This thesis deals with the position of journalists in the situation of armed conflict, It is a category of persons, whose protection within the international humanitarian law has been discussed for many years. Mediation of information from the area of armed conflict is a growing phenomen and because of the technical equipment, it relates more and more to laymen, not just professionals. The question whether journalist should enjoy special protection in the situation of armed conflict was raised already in the process of adopting the Additional Protocols, the so far latest source of the "Geneva law". Since then, it has been subject to many iniciatives, whose aim is to emphasize the role and value of journalists on the battlefield and ensure them more safety. On the other hand, it is obvious that journalists are not an a priori object, which should be protected by the humanitarian law - victims of the armed conflict, either among combatants or civilists. The thesis therefore tries to map the current legislation (embodied mostly in the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols) and its historical and factual context. In the second part, it introduces and evaluates different initiatives that address the legislation - both those which try to change it and strenghten the protection of journalist in...

La question du terrorisme international retient l’attention constante des juristes et de la communauté internationale de manière plus grande encore depuis les attentats du 11 septembre 2001. A cette occasion, la doctrine de la « guerre contre le terrorisme » a prévalu. Cette doctrine tend à effacer la distinction entre l’état de guerre au sens du droit des conflits armés et le terrorisme régi traditionnellement par les règles du droit de la paix. Cette doctrine symbolise l’entrée de la lutte contre le terrorisme dans une ère nouvelle, celle du droit de la guerre qui conduirait à l’adoption de nouvelles règles du droit international humanitaire destinées à remplacer le droit existant, qui serait aujourd’hui dépassé. L’objet de cette thèse est de vérifier l’hypothèse d’une telle rupture et d’évaluer ce possible changement de paradigme sur les règles du droit international humanitaire. Dans cette perspective, la question de l’applicabilité du droit international humanitaire à la lutte contre le terrorisme ainsi que sa mise en œuvre dans la lutte contre le terrorisme seront étudiées. Pour chaque question, il sera nécessaire de faire le point sur le droit international humanitaire existant pour se demander si, et dans quelle mesure, la lutte contre le terrorisme met à l’épreuve ce corpus juris. / The question of international terrorism continually catches the attention of jurists and the international community since the attacks of September 11th, 2001. On this occasion, the doctrine of “war on terror” prevailed. This doctrine strives to remove the distinction between state of war in the sense of law of armed conflict and terrorism traditionally governed by the rules of law of peace. This doctrine symbolizes the entry of the fight against terrorism in a new era, that of the law of war which will bring to the adoption of new rules of international humanitarian law intended to replace existing law, that is said to be out-of-date. The purpose of this research is to check the assumption of such a break and evaluate this possible change of paradigm in the rules of international humanitarian law. From this perspective, the question of the applicability of international humanitarian law to the fight against terrorism as well as its implementation in the fight against terrorism will be examined. For each question, it will be necessary to study the international humanitarian law available to find out if, and to what extent, the fight against terrorism puts this corpus juris to the test.