UCL - Humanitarian Law

[HUMA2030]

[30h] 5 credits

This course is taught in the 1st semester.

Teacher(s):

Language: French

Level: Second

Aims
Main themes
Content and teaching methods
Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Aims

- Knowledge acquisition related to material taught (i.p. measures facilitating the access to victims in a war situa-tions as well as in absence of conflict, along with the institutional framework in which the emergency aid takes place), Better knowledge of the concepts used in this field, Better use of formal legal sources (i.e. international treaties, etc.) and adapted study of the legal reasoning;
- to encourage the students to the development of a critical analysis brought up by a legal analysis relating to the international humanitarian crises as well as to the legal rules defining the deployment of the international hu-manitarian action

Main themes

Analyse in legal terms and thus with the tools of this discipline (namely the texts of the international treaties, the resolutions of N.A.T.Os, national laws, national and international court decisions, in particular and legal litera-ture) of the rules defining humanitarian action at international level.

Development of a critical thinking about the demonstration of a relatively recent reality covered by the expres-sion "duty/right to humanitarian interference" and the legal relationship between the various public as well as private actors of the humanitarian action.

The distinction will be made between the situations caused by wars and humanitarian crises which are not caused by armed conflict .

Content and teaching methods

After having defined the concept of International Humanitarian Law, the exam will concern the study of substantial law, namely the international crimes ; those which can be perpetrated out of an armed conflict period (genocide, crime against humanity and tortures) as well as crimes committed during war, would they be international or internal. Then, the question of the implementation of the humanitarian law including the study of the states' obligations as well as the international control of the application of this law will be stud-ied. The concepts of right to humanitarian aid and the duty of humanitarian assistance will be approached as well as the questions related to the legal status of the personnel bringing humanitarian aid as well as those relating to the institutional system of the European Union assistance . Finally, the criminal responsibility for the individuals, authors of crimes constituting serious violations of humanitarian law, will be studied; this responsibility being established either before national jurisdictions (in particular universal competence), or before international jurisdictions (International Criminal Courts for ex-Yugoslavia or Rwanda and the In-ternational Court of Justice) or finally before internationalized courts (for example the special Court for Si-erra Leone).
The method of teaching includes a lecture with the participation of the students who have at their disposal legal texts and debates on today's main issues.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Oral exam. The students draw the questions randomly and have a preparation time during which they can consult a collection of the legal texts (treated international, laws, etc), available at their disposal since the beginning of the year

The students have two syllabus. The first includes the detailed plan of the course followed by a bibliography chosen according to subjects'. The second is a collection of the legal texts (interna-tional treaties, laws, resolutions of the United Nations, etc.)
The first syllabus includes a selected bibliography