UWA Law School UNIT DETAILS. The Law Relating to Conflict - Technology and Future Challenges. Credit points 6. Availability Available 2016

Transcription

1 UWA Law School UNIT DETAILS Unit title Unit code LAWS5229 The Law Relating to Conflict - Technology and Future Challenges Credit points 6 Availability Available 2016 Teaching period 4-8 July 2016 Location Mode UWA Crawley Campus Intensive CONTACT DETAILS School School website Unit coordinator Consultation hours Unit LMS website Law William Boothby William.Boothby@rhul.ac.uk By appointment

2 UNIT DESCRIPTION Introduction, Unit Content This unit gives students a comprehensive introduction to the important challenges that the evolving nature of national and international conflict poses. It divides the topic into ten equal sessions, each of which takes a particular feature of modern conflict that poses challenges for policy development and decisionmaking at the strategic level. The first session looks at the changing spectrum of international and internal conflict and considers how that legal spectrum might be expected to evolve; the second session considers unmanned attack techniques, autonomy and automation in attack and artificial intelligence and asks whether these challenge or are challenged by the law. In session three, we review the law that regulates weapons and apply the relevant rules to some novel technologies such as cyber capabilities and outer space weapons. Sessions four and five reflect on some emerging approaches to conflict, including remote attack, the tendency for people to be taken out of some forms of warfare and the generally changing roles of people in conflicts, and asks what the legal implications are. Sessions six, seven and eight grapple with the major contemporary issues posed by the complex relationship between the law of armed conflict and international human rights law, paying particular attention to detention operations and the conduct of hostilities. In the penultimate session, we critically assess the gaps that exist in international humanitarian law and discuss the proliferation of international manuals that seek to address some of those gaps. In the final session the focus shifts to the spotlight that mass and social media and legal challenges of different sorts shine on Commanders decisions and we consider the implications. LEARNING OUTCOMES Knowledge Students will, inter alia, be able to understand and discuss (1) the changing approach to the conduct of hostilities and how it affects, and is affected by, international law; (2) how technological developments are likely to contribute to changes in the way wars are fought and the legal arrangements that determine which of these technologies will, and will not, be acceptable; (3) how human rights law applies during armed conflict, how it interacts with the law of armed conflict and how both protect civilians; and (4) whether the developing media and the law impose unacceptable constraints on the ability of Commanders to operate effectively in the modern battlespace. Skills students will be able to construct and articulate, orally and in writing, arguments about the topics on which they will acquire knowledge; research and evaluate cutting edge, complex international law issues; formulate and present their assessments on these cutting edge issues in appropriate terms; and through critical analysis develop proposed solutions including suggested legal and policy approaches. Attributes students (1) demonstrate an enquiring, critical and creative approach to conflict law; (2) demonstrate an appreciation of the numerous disciplines that will be involved in addressing identified challenges, including law, national and international politics, cultural differences between states, the impact of UWA Law School Page 2 of 7

3 geography on national security, the challenges posed by evolving science and the strategic issues arising from gaps in international law provision; and (3) challenge conventional thinking in the search for practical and effective solutions. UNIT STRUCTURE Class structure The Unit will be taught over four and a half consecutive days. There will be ten sessions, each comprising a one-hour lecture and a one-hour seminar. During the seminars, the class will be subdivided into work groups where set problems will be discussed and solutions will be produced. These will be presented to and discussed by the class in plenary and in this way the seminar will reinforce the understanding gained during the lecture. At the end of the course, each student will deliver a very short presentation on an aspect of one of the topics that resonated particularly with him/her. List of Sessions and provisional schedule 1. The Spectrum of Conflicts 2. Interacting technologies 3. New weapons and future conflict 4. Remote attack and new approaches to war 5. Civilianisation, depopulation of the battlespace and the role of people in conflict 6. Detention operations 7. Human rights law and the law of armed conflict the controversies 8. Human rights law and the law of armed conflict a suggested approach 9. Development and status of international manuals 10. Command in the era of mass and social media and legal challenge UNIT SCHEDULE Timetable Day 1 Monday 4 July Day 2 Tuesday 5 July Day 3 Wednesday Session 1 Lecture and Seminar Session 2 Lecture Session 2 Seminar Session 3 Lecture Student consultations Session 4 Lecture Session 4 Seminar Session 5 Lecture Session 5 Seminar Student consultations Session 6 Seminar Session 7 Lecture UWA Law School Page 3 of 7

4 6 July Day 4 Thursday 7 July Session 7 Seminar Session 8 Lecture Student consultations Session 9 Lecture Session 9 Seminar Session 10 Lecture Session 10 Seminar Student consultations TEXTBOOKS AND RESOURCES Recommended texts W H Boothby, Conflict Law: The Influence of New Weapons, Technology, Human Rights and Emerging Actors, Springer (2014) ( Conflict Law ) International Law Studies (Vol 91), US Naval War College Suggested reading according to each Session NB Numerous sources have been listed here against each session students are not expected to read them all, or indeed necessarily most of them the intention is that students read sufficiently widely to obtain a satisfactory grasp of the topics covered. Session 1 Conflict Law, Chapter 2; Oppenheim, International Law A Treatise; vol II, Disputes, war and neutrality, 4th Edn (1926) pp115-25; Common Articles 2 and 3 to the 1949 Geneva Conventions; Additional Protocol II, 1977, article 1; Additional Protocol I, 1977, article 1(4); C Greenwood, Scope of Application of Humanitarian Law in Fleck D (Ed), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (2nd Edn) (2008) pp45 et seq.; CHB Garraway, War and Peace: Where is the divide? United States Naval War College International Law Studies vol 88, pp93 et seq. Session 2 Conflict Law Chapter 4; P W Singer, Wired for War (2009); M Wagner, the dehumanization of international humanitarian law; legal, political and ethical implications of autonomous weapon systems (available online) or M Wagner, Autonomy in the Battlespace; independently operating weapon systems and the law of armed conflict (2013) in D Saxon (Ed) International humanitarian law and the changing technology of war, 99 et seq.; N Sharkey, The evitability of autonomous robot warfare (2012) 94 International Review of the Red Cross 787 et seq; Human Rights Watch report, Losing Humanity: the case UWA Law School Page 4 of 7

5 against killer robots (2012) available online. Session 3 Conflict law, Chapter 5; W Hays Parks, Means and Methods of Warfare: in Lawyers and Wars, Symposium in honour of Edward R Cummings, George Washington International Review (2006), vol 38, pp511 et seq; C Droege, Get off my cloud: Cyber warfare, international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians (2012) available online or 94 IRRC 533 et seq; H Nasu, Nanotechnology and challenges in international humanitarian law (2012) 94 IRRC 653 et seq; Outer Space Treaty 1967, articles III and IV. Session 4 Conflict Law, Chapter 6; A K Cronin, What is really changing? Change and continuity in Global Terrorism in H Strachan and N Scheipers, The Changing Character of War (2011), pp134 et seq; C J Dunlap, The End of Innocence: Rethinking noncombatancy in the post Kosovo era, 28 Strategic Review 14, 9 et seq; S Haines, The nature of war and the character of contemporary armed conflict (2012) in E Wilmshurst, International law and the classification of conflicts, 9 et seq; M N Schmitt, Asymmetrical warfare and international humanitarian law in Heintschel von Heinegg, V Epping, International humanitarian law facing new challenges (2006) pp11 et seq; M Wagner, The dehumanisation of International Humanitarian Law (see session 2) Session 5 Conflict Law, Chapter 7; J Pejic, Unlawful enemy combatants interpretations and consequences, in M Schmitt and J Pejic, International law and armed conflict: Exploring the faultlines (2007), pp335 et seq; CHB Garraway, Combatants substance or semantics, in M Schmitt and J Pejic as above, pp317 et seq; N Melzer (2009), Interpretive Guidance on the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities (available online via the ICRC website); A McDonald, Ghosts in the machine: some legal issues concerning US military contractors in Iraq, in M N Schmitt and J Pejic as above, pp357 et seq.; Additional Protocol I, article 47 and the ICRC commentary on this article (available online or on the ICRC treaty database on the ICRC website under war and law ); Tallinn Manual on the International Law relating to Cyber Warfare (2013), Rule 78 and Commentary. Session 6 Conflict Law, Chapter 8; J Pejic, Conflict classification and the law applicable to detention and the use of force (2012), in E Wilmshurst (as above), pp80 et seq; Geneva Convention III, 1949, article 5; Additional Protocol I, article 75; W K Lietzau, Detention of terrorists in the twenty-first century, US Naval War College International Law Studies, vol 88, 323 et seq; K Doermann, Detention in non-international armed conflicts (2012) USNWC International Law Studies, vol 88, pp347 et seq; Y Dinstein, The system of status groups in international humanitarian law, in von Heinegg and Epping (as above), pp UWA Law School Page 5 of 7

6 145 et seq; J K Kleffner, Operational detention and the treatment of detainees, in T D Gill and D Fleck, The handbook of international law of military operations (2010), pp465 et seq. Session 7 Conflict Law, Chapter 9; G Corn, Mixing apples and handgrenades: the logical limit of applying human rights law to armed conflict, 1 Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies pp52 et seq; C Droege, The interplay between international humanitarian law and international human rights law in situations of armed conflict (2007) 40 Israel Law Review 2, pp310 et seq; CHB Garraway, Applicability and application of international humanitarian law to enforcement and peace enforcement operations (2010) in T D Gill and D Fleck (as above), pp129 et seq; F J Hampson, The relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law from the perspective of a human rights treaty body, (2008) 871 IRRC 549 et seq; W H von Heinegg, The impact of law on contemporary military operations: sacrificing security interests on the altar of political correctness (2011) in W P Hestermeyer et al, Coexistence, cooperation and solidarity, pp 1177 et seq; M Sassoli, The role of human rights and international humanitarian law in new types of armed conflicts (2011) in O Ben-Neftali, International humanitarian law and international human rights law, pp34 et seq; A E Wall Civilian detention in Iraq (2007), in M Schmitt and J Pejic (as above), pp413 et seq. Session 8 Conflict Law, Chapter 10; L Doswald-Beck, The right to life in armed conflict: does international humanitarian law provide all the answers (2006), 864 IRRC pp881 et seq; J Kleffner, Human rights and international humanitarian law: general issues (2010), in TD Gill and D Fleck (as above), pp51 et seq; J Pejic, Conflict classification and the law applicable to detention and the use of force (2012), in E Wilmshurst (as above), pp80 et seq; W Schabas, Lex specialis? Belt and suspenders? The parallel operation of human rights law and the law of armed conflict, and the conundrum of jus ad bellum, 40 Israel Law Review 2, pp592 et seq. Session 9 Conflict Law, Chapter 3; International Institute of Humanitarian Law, Manual of the International Law applicable to Non- International Armed Conflict (available online); ICRC Customary International Humanitarian Law Study, Introduction in volume 1 (available online via the ICRC website); Introduction to the Harvard University Program of Conflict Research Manual of the International Law applicable to Air and Missile Warfare (2009); Introduction to the Tallinn Manual of the International Law applicable to Cyber Warfare (2013); A Roberts and R Guelff, Documents on the Laws of War (Third Edn, 2000), pp and Session 10 Conflict Law, Chapter 11; C Dunlap, Targeting hearts and minds, in von Heinegg and Epping (as above), pp117 et seq; A UWA Law School Page 6 of 7

7 Barnard and R Mackey, Internet shutdown across Syria, New York Times, 29 November 2012 available online; D O Brien, Will Tunisia s internet revolution endure, 25 January 2011 (available online); M Richtel, Egypt cuts off most Internet and cell services, New York Times, 28 January 2012 (available online); D Saxon, Humanitarian law, ethics and journalism in Syria, Guest blog, 29 January 2013 at C P M Waters, Myths of Lawfare and legal encirclement (2010) in N Quenivet and S Shah-Davis, International law and armed conflict: challenges in the 21st century, pp31 et seq; Z Whittaker, Syria suffers Internet blackout, cut off rom the outside world, 29 November 2012 (available online); UWA Law School Page 7 of 7