Module LAW44030: International Humanitarian Law

Department: Law

LAW44030: International Humanitarian Law

Prerequisites

• None

Corequisites

• Fundamental Issues in International Legal Governance

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To develop an understanding on international humanitarian law and the procedural and substantive issues relating to its operation. The courses will focus on the substantive law, its relationship with the law on the use of force, its historical evolution, its relationship with other substantive areas of public international law such as international human rights or environmental law as weill as questions of reform particularly in the context of technological evolution. The topic allowed for the consideration of international humanitarian law from a number of different perspectives while keeping a central focus on the substantive law itself. The course aims to provide both knowledge of the specific area of international institutional law, and a greated understanding of international law by focusing on this specialised regime.

Content

• A selection of topics in the following indicative areas will run in each year:
• History of International Humanitarian Law
• Theories of International Humanitarian Law
• Sources of International Humanitarian Law
• International and Non-International Armed Conflicts
• Combatants and Non-Combatants
• Protection of the Wounded, Sick, Ship-Wrecked
• Law of Armed Conflict at Sea
• Law of Neutrality
• Peacekeeping
• Principle of Distinction
• Proportionality, Necessity and Humanity
• Law of Occupation
• Prisoners of War
• Command Responsibility
• Targeting
• Cultural Property
• Specific Prohibited Regimes: Chemical Weapons, Gas and Biological Weapons, Land Mines, Weapons of Mass Destruction
• International Humanitarian Law and Non-State Actors
• International Humanitarian Law & its interaction with International Criminal Law
• International Humanitarian Law & its interaction with International Environmental Law
• International Humanitarian Law & its interaction with International Human Rights
• International Humanitarian Law and New Technologies

Learning Outcomes

• Students will have
• A thorough knowledge of the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law:
• A demonstrably in-depth knowledge of certain key aspects of the international humanitarain law and its relationship with wider issues in international law;
• A familiarity with the contemporary issues regarding international humanitarian law, and its development

• Studewnts should be able to:
• interpret and evaluate critically relevant documents within international humanitarian law and identify the theoretical and critical spproaches informing their interpretation;
• appreciate how international humanitarian law interacts with other areas of international law and international institutions;
• identify key issues within contemporary international humanitarian law

• Students should be able to:
• demonstrate an ability to understand and analyse critically a wide variety of complex issues, drawing on a variety of materials;
• develop expertise in conducting legal research using materials from a variety of national and international sources;
• describe accurately and coherently the argumetns and analysis of academic commentators;
• write in clear and structured way and to put forward ideas in a scholarly manner;
• and demonstrate an ability to explore creatively complex issues in writing.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The course will be taught through a series of lectures and seminars. Each term will consist of four two-hour lectures and three two-hour seminars. The lectures will be used to introduce students to the topics covered and to introduce them to the course while the seminars will allow for in-depth discussion of the issues to be discussed. There will be a distinct focuson problem-based issues.
• The course will finish with a two-hour discussion of themes and contemporary issues regarding global institutions.
• The course will be assessed by a complusory formative essay of 1,500 words in the first term, a second optional formative assessment of 1,500 words in the second term and an exam in the third term. The formative and summative papers, based on students choice of a number of topics, will ensure that students have met the research, analysis and communication objectives of the module.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Two 1,500- word essays

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University