Kırımlı Dr. Aziz Bey Collected Courses on International Humanitarian Law

The second edition of the Kırımlı Dr. Aziz Bey International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Advanced Summer School covered crucial sub-topics of international humanitarian law. Most of the lectures taught within the scope of the event were transcribed and adjusted by the authors and included in this book. The book, therefore composed of seven chapters, namely, Child Soldiers, International Legal Protection of Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict, Humanitarian Access in Armed Conflict from the Legal Perspective, Protection of the Environment by International Humanitarian Law, International Weapons Law, Aerial Warfare and Hybrid Warfare and the Law of Armed Conflict: Much Ado about Nothing.

In the first chapter of this book, the legal framework surrounding child soldiers is explored by Noelle Quinvet, covering international human rights law, IHL, and international criminal law. The chapter explores the definition of a “child soldier,” discusses the recruitment and participation of child soldiers in hostilities, and touches on the difficult topic of child soldiers as perpetrators of war crimes. The final part of the chapter focuses on the protection of children in armed conflict, with a specific emphasis on child soldiers. Using primarily primary sources, this paper aims to provide a solid introduction to the concept of child soldiers and the legal regimes that apply to them.

The second chapter of the book is authored by Riccardo Pavoni and discusses the increasing global concern for the protection of cultural property during armed conflict. The chapter begins by examining former US President Donald Trump’s statement on striking 52 cultural sites in Iran and how it highlights the importance of safeguarding cultural heritage in times of war. The chapter notes that this consciousness is the result of a long evolutionary process that has humanized the law of armed conflict, particularly in the protection of cultural property. However, the chapter also points out that the destruction of cultural property has become a key element in many armed conflicts, with expressions such as “cultural terrorism” and “ethnic-cultural cleansing” now in common use. The chapter discusses how contemporary armed conflicts have changed and how the protection of cultural heritage needs to adapt accordingly. Finally, the chapter outlines the existing legal framework for the protection of cultural property and highlights the main challenges and developments in recent normative and judicial practice.

Elżbieta Mikos-Skuza addresses the issue of humanitarian access in armed conflicts, which is a contentious and significant issue in IHL, in the third chapter. The paper first concentrates on the protection and assistance offered by IHL and delves into substantial provisions governing humanitarian access. It then analyses the legal framework governing humanitarian access in four layers, namely, the primary obligations of the parties to the conflict, the right of humanitarian initiative, state consent requirement and operational consent. The paper briefly addresses the status of humanitarian personnel and the relationship between IHL and counter-terrorism in humanitarian assistance. Lastly, the relationship between IHL rules on humanitarian access and the global COVID-19 pandemic is touched upon by the author. Although the paper focuses on legal aspects of humanitarian access in armed conflict, it highlights the broader problem of humanitarian access in public international law, including natural and technological disasters, which often lack binding rules and rely on soft laws and guidelines.
In the fourth chapter of this book, Anne Dienelt & Franziska Bachmann discuss the legal protection of the environment during armed conflicts. It begins by highlighting the lack of provisions addressing the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict and the need for the international community to expand international laws against environmental damage during the conflict. It then goes on to discuss the UN International Law Commission’s work on the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflict and the 27 draft principles (PERAC principles) it adopted in 2022 to enhance the protection of the environment. The chapter also stresses the environmental impacts of armed conflicts, particularly in the context of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. The legal framework predominantly dealing with armed conflicts and war-related environmental damage is IHL, which is complemented by other fields such as human rights law or international environmental law. The chapter describes the IHL framework for protecting the environment during armed conflict, focusing on international armed conflicts. It also categorizes the relevant norms protecting the environment into two groups: those that directly and implicitly protect the environment. In conclusion, the chapter discusses the importance of protecting the environment in armed conflicts and provides an outlook on the subject.

Daniele Amoroso covers the international weapons law topic in the fifth chapter. The focus of this chapter is on IHL and disarmament regimes and their basic norms, including the principles prohibiting weapons that cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering and those that are by nature indiscriminate. The chapter provides an overview of the sources of international weapons law and discusses compliance mechanisms, with a particular focus on national weapons review under Article 36 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Convention, using legal re- views of autonomous weapons systems as a case study. The selection of the regimes covered in this chapter was made to provide a representative sample of the different regimes in force.

The sixth chapter, which is authored by Mateusz Piatkowski, concentrates on the phenomenon of aerial warfare in the context of IHL. This chapter examines the current state of IHL applicable to aerial warfare, the gaps in regulation, and the need for dedicated treaty regulation. It highlights the principles of IHL and customary rules that govern air warfare and their practical application in conflicts. The chapter also discusses the ongoing discussions relating to Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems (LAWS) and the potential impact of such weapons on the regulation of aerial warfare. Overall, the chapter provides a comprehensive overview of the legal framework governing aerial warfare in the context of IHL.

In the last chapter, Aurel Sari explores the relationship between hybrid warfare and the law of armed conflict. He argues that while the law of armed conflict regulates the conduct of hostilities during times of war, the concept of hybrid warfare does not have a settled meaning and has been used to describe a wide range of security challenges faced by democratic nations and institutions. The chapter first reviews the changing character of warfare and identifies key adaptation mechanisms of the law of armed conflict. It then examines the idea of hybridity and its two principal manifestations: hybrid warfare and hybrid threats. Finally, the chapter discusses some of the challenges that hybrid conflicts and competition pose for the law of armed conflict and concludes by identifying some broader lessons. The lack of clarity and breadth of the notion of hybrid warfare is highlighted, and the chapter aims to provide insight into the legal implications of these concepts.