The law of war: Finding rules to protect victims of conflict
Scholars, lawyers and military join the Red Cross to discuss future of humanitarian law
The international law of conflict has many sources. It can be found in an American general's order to preserve cultural treasures during the liberation of France. It is reflected in a Quebec court's recent decision to deport a Haitian charged with using the airwaves to incite genocide. Such rules form part of a broad collection of treaties and traditions that together make up a body of law to govern armed conflict.
These rules will be the focus of a discussion at McGill University this weekend as leading thinkers from the United States, Canada and Europe gather to attend Customary International Humanitarian Law: Challenges, Practices and Debates, the first conference of its kind held in North America. The opening address is to be given by Michael Ignatieff, one of Canada's leading public intellectuals.
"This type of law governs military personnel, armed conflicts and even non-state actors," explains McGill law professor Armand De Mestral. "It used to be seen as a marginal subject, but with the emergence of the International Court of Justice, it's become much more front and centre."
A central topic of the event will be a major new study that is the result of a decade of research by teams of experts working in nearly 50 countries. The study distills rules and customs from around the world to create a standard law for armed conflict that applies to all countries. This year, the study was published as a book by the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross.
The conference will attract military personnel, scholars and Red Cross representatives, who all share an interest in understanding this emerging body of rules. It will also be an opportunity for the public to learn about the reach of law in the global community.
"We are getting people to understand that international treaties are not the limit of the law in this area," says De Mestral. "We're making the whole idea of customary humanitarian law better known to the public and throughout North America."
This weekend's conference also coincides with the recent creation of the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Social Diversity, an interdisciplinary research group dedicated to studying legal and cultural issues related to human rights.
The conference is taking place from September 29 until October 1, and will be hosted in the Moot Court at McGill's Faculty of Law. Full details, including registration materials, can be found on the Red Cross website.
