International Law and Armed Conflict

Catalog description

By literalizing the “war on terror,” governments have broken down the distinction between what is permissible in times of peace and what can be condoned during a war. In peacetime, governments are bound by strict rules of law enforcement. For example, lethal force can be employed in law enforcement only if necessary to meet an imminent threat of death or serious bodily injury. Those detained by police must be charged and tried. However, in wartime, law enforcement rules are supplemented by a more permissive set of rules embodied in international humanitarian law, otherwise known as the law of armed conflict. Under such wartime rules, unlike during peacetime, an enemy combatant can be shot without warning (unless he or she is incapacitated, in custody, or trying to surrender), regardless of any imminent threat. If a combatant is captured, he or she can be held in custody until the end of the conflict, without any trial. This course explores how these two sets of rules have developed, both by customary international law and by international conventions, analyzes under what sorts of circumstances one set of rules should apply instead of the other, and examines the legal consequences of governments fighting the “war on terror” by expanding the boundaries of the law of armed conflict beyond the traditional battlefield to wherever terrorists hide, run, or plan. Students will receive a solid foundation in the law of armed conflict and will analyze complex legal problems occurring at the intersections of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and national security law.