This seminar will deal with the two bodies of rules dealing with armed conflicts: The law on the resort to force, or jus ad bellum, and the law on the rights and obligations of belligerents in armed conflict, or jus in bello.
In the first part of the seminar, we will critically examine the prohibition on the international use of force and its exceptions, namely the right to self-defense and the restoration of peace and security authorized by the UN Security Council. We will also consider recent challenges both to the general prohibition on the use of force and to the narrow circumscription of the exceptions in the prevailing doctrine, in particular with regard to humanitarian intervention (Kosovo) and the threats of terrorism (September 11/Afghanistan) and of weapons of mass destruction (Iraq). A particular emphasis will lie on the role of the United Nations for the maintenance and restoration of international peace and security.
In the second part, we will consider recent or developing armed conflicts (Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq) with regard to the observance of international humanitarian law and the means and methods of warfare. We will discuss, inter alia, the status of the Guant?namo detainees and the applicability of international humanitarian law to terrorists, the threat or use of nuclear weapons, the role of human rights in armed conflicts, and the enforcement of international humanitarian law by domestic and international tribunals.