This study aims to examine how the emergence of modern warfare are challenging International Humanitarian Law when it comes to the protection of civilians in armed conflict. Thereby gaining a better understanding of how modern warfare is putting civilians at risk and how International Humanitarian Law is being challenged by the development of warfare. This study is a multidisciplinary study of Peace and Conflict Studies and International Law, which gives a rare perspective on civilian’s position in modern warfare. Thereby this study is not only showing the legal challenges in armed conflict but also bringing in the perspective of civilian’s position in modern warfare. This study will make use of three case studies: urban warfare, non-state actors and the use of drones in armed conflict. This study concludes that the challenges which International Humanitarian Law meets in modern warfare, is related to the need of clarifications but also a need for a greater enforcement and respect of the law by all parties of the conflict, both state and non-state actors. Lastly, there is a need for strengthening the inclusion of non-state actors in international law and strengthen International Humanitarian Law to meet the challenges of modern warfare to protect the civilians.

Since children are particularly vulnerable in armed conflicts, they are conferred legal protection under International law, like in the International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. Despite of international legislation, the situation of children remains critically worrying with numerous ongoing armed conflicts and instabilities globally. On the one hand, they are assumed special protection, yet on the other hand, they are commonly used as shields or forced into being combatants. The aim of the study is to outline legal areas of ambiguity or inadequacy in the legal framework and see whether they are sufficient in seeking to protect children in armed conflicts. Following relevant conceptual discussions on International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, the study employs a legal analysis in conjunction with a normative argumentation approach in reference to the works of various scholars. Based on the findings, I conclude that IHL and IHRL are often not adhered to, by state parties in armed conflicts due to a lack of binding power; hence such conventions do not produce the desired result. Since state parties are either in breach of the conventions, or have not yet ratified them, the conventions are not practically effective in protecting children.

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Sjukvårdstaktiken idag grundar sig idag i reglementen och handböcker där sjukvårdsgrupper bär det Röda Korset för att kunna få de skydd som den internationella humanitära rätten ger. Dessa lagar gäller i väpnade konflikter och ska respekteras av alla parter i en konflikt. Trots dessa lagar sker attacker riktade mot sjukvårdsenheter medvetet. Senast i Rysslands invasion av Ukraina har det enligt WHO skett 859 attacker mot sjukvårdsenheter.  När sjukvårdsgrupper ses som legitima mål för en motståndare skapas ett problem och ett dilemma om svenska sjukvårdsgrupper bör bära det Röda Korset för att få de skydd som den internationella humanitära rätten ger, eller om gruppen i stället bör skyddas genom att inte utmärka dem med det Röda Korset. Syftet med arbetet är att utforska, om en sjukvårdsgrupp bör bära det Röda Korset eller inte, genom att besvara frågeställningen: Vad händer med en sjukvårdsgrupps skydd när de inte bär det Röda Korset, utifrån skyddslökens lager? Slutsatsen är att skyddet kommer att öka på sjukvårdsgruppen om de inte bär det Röda Korset, men att det då måste beslutas på högre nivåer och alla i Försvarsmakten måste göra likadant. De reglementen som finns för dagens sjukvårdtaktik behöver ses över och revideras då den tänkta motståndaren inte följer krigets lagar som de är tänkta att göra. Sjukvårdsgruppers uppträdande behöver också ändras för att deras egna skydd ska kunna öka ytterligare. / Medical tactics today are based on the regulations and manuals where medical units wear the Red Cross to get the protection that international humanitarian law gives. These laws apply in armed conflicts and must be respected by all parts in a conflict. Despite these laws, attacks targeting healthcare facilities still occur. Most recently in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, according to the WHO, there have been 859 attacks on medical units. When medical units are seen as legitimate targets for an adversary, it creates a problem and a dilemma as to how Swedish medical units should wear the red cross to receive the protections that international humanitarian law provides, or whether one should instead protect medical units by not using the Red Cross.  The aim of this essay is to explore, if a medical unit should wear the Red Cross or not by answering the question: What happens to a medical unit’s protection when they don't wear the Red Cross, based on the layer of system survivability? The conclusion is that protection will increase for the health care group if not wearing the Red Cross, but it must be joint decisions within the Armed Forces, and everyone must do the same.  The regulations that exist for today's medical unit tactics need to be reviewed and revised as the adversaries that exist today do not follow the laws of war as they are supposed to. Medical units’ tactics need to be changed so that their own protection can increase.

Sverige har genom åren ratificierat en mängd internationella traktater inom folkrättens område som gäller vid krig och konflikt. Enligt Totalförsvarets folkrättsförordning ska de bevakningsansvariga myndigheterna ha kunskap om folkrättens regelverk i krig. Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och beredskap har till uppgift att erbjuda utbildning i det folkrättsliga regelverket i krig till dessa myndigheter. Denna uppsats ämnar därför undersöka hur denna folkrättsliga utbildning ser ut och hur väl den implementeras i enlighet med det som står i Totalförsvarets folkrättsförordning.

This paper assesses U.S. national security policies in surveillance, detention, interrogation and torture, and targeted killing to determine whether they comport with international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The U.S. is responsible for adhering to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the Geneva Conventions. These human rights law documents can be understood through court decisions, congressional statutes, and widely accepted interpretations from organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the UN Human Rights Council. Further, this paper offers prescriptions on how international human rights law and international humanitarian law can be updated to better deal with the current war on terror. / text

Kasetinis šaudmuo – tai įprastinis šaudmuo, kurį sudaro dešimtys ar/arba šimtai mažesnių sprogmenų – kasetinio šaudmens vienetų. Kai šaudmuo yra išaunamas nuo žemės ar paleidžiamas iš oro, jo korpusas atsidaro ir jame esantys kasetinio šaudmens vienetai pabyra dideliame plote. Kasetinis šaudmuo – mirtį nešantis ginklas, dėl kurio, skaičiuojant nuo 1965 m., nukentėjo daugiau kaip 100 tūkstančių žmonių. Pažymėtina, kad 98 procentai visų nukentėjusių yra civiliai, o net kas trečias nukentėjęs – vaikas. Šiame darbe atskleidžiamos ir analizuojamos kasetinių šaudmenų techninės savybės, keliančios didžiausią grėsmę civiliams. Taip pat darbe plačiau aptariami tarptautinės humanitarinės teisės principai, labiausiai susiję su kasetinių šaudmenų reguliavimu. Didelis dėmesys darbe skiriamas naujo teisinio instrumento – Konvencijos dėl kasetinių šaudmenų, kuri visiškai uždraudžia konvencijos šalims naudoti, tobulinti, gaminti, jokiais kitais būdais įsigyti, kaupti, saugoti ir pervežti kasetinius šaudmenis, – analizei. Darbo pabaigoje atskleidžiama Lietuvos pozicija kasetinių šaudmenų atžvilgiu ir jos indėlis tarptautiniuose procesuose, siekiant uždrausti šį pavojingą ginklą. / Cluster munitions are conventional weapon containing dozens or hundreds of smaller submunitions. After being dropped from the air or fired from the ground, parent cluster munitions open in the air, releasing and dispersing their submunitions over a wide area. Cluster munitions are deadly weapons that have killed or maimed more than 100 000 people worldwide since 1965. It should be noted that 98 percent of all casualties are civilians, and every third victim is a child. The paper analyses the technical background of the cluster munitions and it looks at what causes the biggest humanitarian harm. The paper further discusses the principal rules of international humanitarian law relevant to the use of cluster munitions. The paper gives much attention to the analysis of a new legal instrument, the ‘Convention on Cluster Munitions’. The Convention prohibits the use, developing, production, acquisition, stockpiling, and transfer of cluster munitions. At the end of the paper the position of Lithuania is revealed in respect of cluster munitions and its contribution in the international processes to ban this dangerous weapon.

Tens of thousands of contractors work for private military and security companies (PMSCs) in armed conflicts around the world, often hired by states to fulfil functions that were once the exclusive domain of the armed forces. In this context, PMSCs have performed a wide range of activities including offensive combat, prisoner interrogation, military advice and training, armed security, intelligence and logistics. The proliferation of PMSCs during the past two decades has challenged conventional conceptions of the state as the primary holder of coercive power in the international arena. Nonetheless, this Thesis argues that the traditional state-centred frameworks of international law remain vitally relevant to the regulation of private security activity in contemporary armed conflict. Three states are in a strong position to influence PMSCs in this context—the state that hires the PMSC, the state in which the company is based or incorporated, and the state in which the company operates—and this capacity for influence enables international law to regulate PMSC activities indirectly using these states as an intermediary. This Thesis critically analyses the pertinent international obligations on these three categories of states and identifies the circumstances in which PMSC misconduct may give rise to state responsibility in each case. It also examines the recent practice of certain key states in order to evaluate their compliance with these obligations. By providing a clear and in-depth analysis of states' international obligations to control PMSCs in armed conflict, this Thesis may not only facilitate the assessment of state responsibility in cases of PMSC misconduct; it may also play an important prospective role in setting standards of conduct for states in relation to the private security industry. This in turn may encourage and assist states to develop their domestic laws and policies in order to improve overall PMSC compliance with international law.

The definition of terrorism in international law The subject of this graduation thesis is to explore problem of defining terrorism in international law. Although it is very broad topic, the thesis has attempted to explore most of the questions this issue has offered. First of all, it examines reasones why define terrorism in international law. Further this study provides information about perception of the term terrorism in the past depending on the political and social conditions and about how the terrorist attacks influenced the effort to find the definition of terrorism. The thesis pays big attention to regional treaty in which terrorism is defined and uses it as a comparison basis for finding the elements of the definition, since regional international treaty law has achieved the biggest success in this area. However, in the last two decades successes have achieved on universal level, especially by the adoption of the International Convention for the Suppression of Financing of Terrorism, which is the first universal agreement binding defines terrorism. This study also introduces the latest development of efforts to create a Comprehensive Convention on the Suppression of International Terrorism, which is, unfortunately, no more than small. Given the decades-long efforts to define terrorism, the...