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Course

Law of Armed Conflict - LAWS8188

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Postgraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 2

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Academic Program must be 9200 or 9210 or 5740 or 9230 or 9240 or 5760 or 9281 or 5281 or 9211 or 5211 or 9285 or 5285 or 9220 or 5750.

Excluded: JURD7488

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

One of the most important areas of international law is the law regulating recourse to and the use of force. It is a unique body of law comprising two separate and distinct bodies of rules: the jus ad bellum, which is the law governing the legality of the resort to force, and the jus in bello, which is the law regulating the conduct of hostilities. The jus in bello is also referred to as humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict, or the laws of war. The law of armed conflict is a body of rules that was developed to protect the most vulnerable groups during armed conflict and to mitigate the deleterious effects of the methods of warfare. Unfortunately, these rules are frequently violated during armed conflicts and this gives rise to the further question of how these rules can be effectively enforced.

LLM Specialisations

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

This course aims to:
  • Provide you with a basic knowledge and understanding of both the substantive and procedural aspects of the law of armed conflict
  • Introduce you to the basic objectives and principles underlying the rules of armed conflict, including the major treaties, enforcement mechanisms, and the relationship between humanitarian and human rights law
  • Develop your skills in applying, analyzing and critiquing the relevant principles
  • Help you to appreciate the dynamic and evolving nature of the laws of war

Main Topics

  • History and scope of the law of armed conflict (including customary international humanitarian law)
  • Types of conflict and thresholds of applicability of the law: (i) international conflict; (ii) non-international armed conflict; (iii) self-determination movements; (iv) internationalized armed conflict
  • Law on the conduct of hostilities: (i) non-combatants; (ii) wounded, sick and shipwrecked; (iii) humanitarian personnel and the protective emblem; (iv) combatants and prisoners of war: status and treatment; (v) spies, mercenaries; (vi) methods of combat; (vii) means of combat; (viii) issues: nuclear weapons, arms control & disarmament, culture, environment
  • The problem of terrorism and terrorists: status, rights, asymmetrical warfare, necessity, and assassination
  • The law of occupation
  • The relationship between human rights law & humanitarian law
  • Implementation, responsibility and enforcement

Assessment

Class participation (Preparation and engagement in class) 10%
Research Essay Plan (redeemable) 10%
Research essay (6000-7000 words) 80%

Course Texts

Prescribed
There is no prescribed text for the course. The prescribed reading materials will consist of the relevant international treaties and course materials, supplemented if needed by materials made available on-line or in class. You will need:
1. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 (ICRC) and
2. Course materials, either in electronic form (available through the course Blackboard website) or hard copy (available from UNSW Bookshop).

Recommended
Please refer to the course outline for further reading.

Sir John Clancy Auditorium

Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

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