Unit 4: Peace and conflict

International law
Syllabus objectives
Welcome to international law
This is a large topic and we do not have time
to fully explore the field.
We will briefly look at:
1. The UN charter
2. The Geneva conventions
3. Responsibility to Protect
Task: 120 second research challenge

Round 1
What does the
UN say about when
violence is
justified?
UN charter

Article 2(4)
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the
threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political
independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the
Purposes of the United Nations.
UN Charter
Article 51
Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of
individual or collective self-defence if an armed attack occurs against
a Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken
measures necessary to maintain international peace and security.
Measures taken by Members in the exercise of this right of self-
defence shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and
shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the
Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such
action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore
international peace and security.
Interpretation…
Since the beginning, the use of force is one of the most
controversial areas of international law and the UN charter.

A few issues:

• Does ‘use of force’ include economic coercion?

• What counts as the right of self-defence?

• What counts as self-determination?

• When should intervention happen in a civil war?

Changes over time
Understanding of international law and conflict is
constantly evolving.

For example:

• Context of decolonisation process

• Changing trends of non-state actors and terrorism
• Changing technologies:
• Nuclear proliferation
• Cyber weapons
• Drones
The Geneva conventions

https://www.icrc.org/en/war-and-law/treaties-custo
mary-law/geneva-conventions
Responsibility to Protect (R2P)
Following the atrocities committed in the
1990s in the Balkans and Rwanda, which the
international community failed to prevent,
and the NATO military intervention in
Kosovo, which was criticized by many as a
violation of the prohibition of the use of
force, the international community engaged
in a serious debate on how to react to gross
and systematic violations of human rights.
In the 2000 Millennium Report, Kofi Annan
questioned: “if humanitarian intervention is,
indeed, an unacceptable assault on
sovereignty, how should we respond to a
Rwanda, to a Srebrenica, to gross and
systematic violation of human rights that
offend every precept of our common
humanity?”
Responsibility to Protect (R2P)

2005 World Summit Outcome Document

138. Each individual State has the responsibility to protect its

populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes
against humanity. This responsibility entails the prevention of such
crimes, including their incitement, through appropriate and necessary
means. We accept that responsibility and will act in accordance with it.
The international community should, as appropriate, encourage and
help States to exercise this responsibility and support the United
Nations in establishing an early warning capability.
Issues

https://www.globalr2p.org/publications/applying-r2p-to-myanmar/
Issues
Re-cap
1) What are the two main principles of the UN
charter regarding the use of force?
2) List three issues with these principles.
3) What are the Geneva conventions?
4) What are the four conventions?
5) What is R2P?
6) List two challenges to R2P.
Case Study- Iraq War 2003