DOCSLIB.ORG

International Criminal Law Discussion Guide

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
International Criminal Law Discussion Guide International Criminal Law: a Discussion Guide Edited by John Cerone and Susana SáCouto With contributing authors: John Cerone (Chapters I, II and IV), Diane Orentlicher (Chapter VIII), Susana SáCouto (Chapters IV, V and VI), Ewen Allison, Tejal Jesrani, Robert Kahn, Chante Lasco, Cecile Meijer, and Claire Trickler-McNulty * This manual is a product of the War Crimes Research Office at American University’s Washington College of Law. The preparation and production of this Guide was funded by the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Open Society Institute. 1 I. Introduction to International Criminal Law ………………………………………… 4 A. Public International Law……………………………………………………… 4 B. The Evolution of International Criminal Law ……………………..………….4 C. The Establishment & Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the Special Panels …...5 D. Transition to Independence & UNMISET……………………………………..6 II. War Crimes……………………………………………………………………………....7 A. The Regulation of Armed Conflict Under International Law………………...7 B. The Evolution of IHL……………………………………………………………7 C. War Crimes as Crimes under International Law………………………….…11 III. Crimes Against Humanity……………………………………………………………...14 A. Contextual Elements of Crimes of Against Humanity……………………….14 1. Widespread or Systematic Attack……………………………………..14 2. Directed Against Any Civilian Population……………………………16 3. Mens Rea………………………………………………………………..17 4. No Discrimination Requirement.……………………………………...18 5. Nexus between the Act and the Attack………………………………..18 6. No Armed Conflict Requirement……………………………………...19 B. Enumerated Acts……………………………………………………………….19 IV. Genocide…………………………………………………………………………...……20 A. Introduction to Genocide………………………………………………………20 B. Distinctive Features of the Definition………………..…………..……………20 C. Elaboration of the Definition Through Jurisprudence of the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals……...………………...………..21 1. Individual Criminal Responsibility……………………………………21 2. Elaboration of the Definition……………………..……………………21 a. Protected Groups ………………………………...…………….21 D. Enumerated Acts….…………………………………………………………….22 1. Killing members of the group………………………………………….22 2. Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group……………………………………………………….…………….22 3. Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part……………………………………………………………………23 4. Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group…….……………………………………………………………….23 5. Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group ....………………………………………………………………….24 E. The Intent Requirement………..……………………………………………….24 1. “In whole or in part” ……………..…………………………………….24 2. Role of the individual perpetrator ……………………………………..25 3. Genocide v. forced expulsion………..………………………………….25 3. Modes of participation………………………………………………….26 4. Comparison with the Rome Statute …………….…………………….26 V. Torture…………………………………………………………………….…………….27 A. Torture as an Independent Offense…………………………….……………..27 B. Torture as a Crime against Humanity or War Crime……………………….28 2 C. Difference between the Definitions of Torture ………………..……………..29 VI. Individual Criminal Responsibility…………………………………….……………...30 A. Commission ……………………………………………………….……………30 1. UNTAET Statutory Language ………………………………………...30 2. ICTR and ICTY Jurisprudence …………………………..…………..30 3. ICC Travaux Préparatoires …………………………………………....31 B. Ordering, Soliciting, Inducing ………………………………….…………..…31 1. UNTAET Statutory Language ……………………………………...…31 2. ICTY and ICTR Jurisprudence ………………………………………32 a. Ordering …………………………………………….………………32 b. Instigation ………………………………………….…………….…32 C. Aiding, Abetting or Assisting ……………………………….……................…33 1. UNTAET Statutory Language …………………………….…………..33 2. ICTY and ICTR Jurisprudence ……………………….…...…………33 D. Acting as a Group with a Common Purpose……...……….…………………34 1. UNTAET Statutory Language ……………………….….……………34 2. ICTY and ICTR Jurisprudence ………………..…………..…………35 E. Incitement to Genocide 1. UNTAET Statutory Language ……………………….….……………36 2. ICTY and ICTR Jurisprudence ………………..…………..…………36 F. Attempt and Abandonment ……………………………….…………………..37 1. UNTAET Statutory Language……………….……………………..…37 2. ICTY and ICTR Jurisprudence………………….…............................37 G. Responsibility of Commanders and Other Superiors ……………………….38 1. UNTAET Statutory Language ………………………………………..38 2. Comparison with the Rome Statute ………………………………….38 3. ICTY and ICTR Jurisprudence…………………...………………….38 VII. The Principle of Legality………………………………………………………………40 A. Nullum Crimen Sine Lege……………………………………………………..40 B. Limitation on Use of Analogy…………………………………..……………..41 C. Nulla Poena Sine Lege…………………………………………………………41 VIII. The Non Bis In Idem Principle…………............………………………..……………43 A. UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/15………………………….…………………43 B. East Timor Constitution……………………………………….………………43 C. International Standards Governing Prosecutions in Two or More States……………………………………………………………………………44 D. Approaches of the International Criminal Tribunals…………………….…45 1. ICTY and ICTR………………………………………………………...45 2. ICC………………………………………………………………………46 APPENDIX A: Relevant Excerpts from: the IMT, UN Secretary-General’s report on the ICTY, Statutes of the ICTY, ICTR, and ICC……………………...48 APPENDIX B: ICC Elements of Crimes…………………………………………………….71 APPENDIX C: Documents relating to the Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East Timor……………………………………………….………………….122 APPENDIX D: Useful Websites for Internet Research …………………………………...156 3 I. Introduction to International Criminal Law International Criminal Law, as that phrase is used in this discussion guide,1 refers to that body of norms of public international law the breach of which will give rise to individual criminal responsibility. A. Public International Law Central to a proper understanding of International Criminal Law is the fact that it is a discrete body of public international law and, as such, operates in the context of the international legal system. At the same time, the character of international criminal norms, as norms capable of engaging the criminal responsibility of individual human beings, is distinct from that of most other norms of public international law. From the inception of the Westphalian system, the sovereign equality of states and the related principle of non-intervention were paramount. As a horizontal system, where sovereign states were horizontally juxtaposed with no higher authority, its substantive norms consisted of a network of reciprocal obligations that focused almost exclusively on inter-state relations. Norms generated within this system have been traditionally understood to have as their legal subject the state alone, and their breach gave rise only to the responsibility of the state. Individual human beings could only be bound by international law indirectly, if at all, and usually through the modality of domestic legislation. Another consequence of this horizontal structure is the consent-based nature of international law. As sovereign equals, all states are of equal legal status, and thus may only be bound by obligations that they have created or chosen to accept.2 The sources of international law, reflecting this requirement of state consent, are treaties, custom, and general principles of law.3 B. The Evolution of International Criminal Law The horrors of the Second World War spawned a host of developments in international law. Among the most significant was the crystallization of the principle that violation of certain norms of international law could give rise to individual criminal responsibility. According to this principle, certain serious violations of international law would engage not only the classical form of responsibility in international law, i.e., the responsibility of the state, but also that of the 1 Generally, the phrase “international criminal law” may refer to a variety of international norms, including those governing such matters as extradition and mutual cooperation in law enforcement and judicial proceedings. 2 While this voluntarist model was altered following World War II and the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations, the international legal system still rests on the principle of state sovereignty and any legal analysis must begin with this principle. 3 Statute of the International Court of Justice, art. 38. A treaty binds a state only if a state chooses to become a party to that treaty, thus expressing its consent to be bound. States are deemed to consent to customary law, consisting of the practice of states accepted as law, as well as "the general principles of law recognized by civilized nations." Id. Scholarship and jurisprudence are subsidiary means for the determination of rules of international law. Id. 4 individual human beings perpetrating the violation. Such perpetrators could be criminally prosecuted and punished for these violations of international law. The emergence of this principle was primarily driven by the need to develop effective means of enforcement. As reasoned by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, “Crimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities, and only by punishing individuals who commit such crimes can the provisions of international law be enforced.”4 The principle of individual criminal responsibility for violations of certain international norms has now crystallized in treaty law as well as customary international law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), adopted in 1998, provides the most comprehensive codification
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Legal Response to Propaganda Broadcasts Related to Crisis in and Around Ukraine, 2014–2015
    International Journal of Communication 9(2015), Feature 3125–3145 1932–8036/2015FEA0002 Legal Response to Propaganda Broadcasts Related to Crisis in and Around Ukraine, 2014–2015 ANDREI G. RICHTER1 Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Keywords: freedom of expression, freedom of the media, propaganda for war, incitement to hatred, international standards, rule of law, national regulators, Russia, Ukraine, UK, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova The conflict in and around Ukraine in 2014–2015 has brought about the spread of propaganda for war and hatred, especially on television and on the Internet. Research on the national laws and resolutions made by courts and independent media regulators that adjudicated complaints on Russian TV propaganda in Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the UK, and Ukraine shows that the national courts and regulators made few references to international norms, resting, rather, on domestically developed standards. As a result, there was a lack of solid grounds for stopping, blocking, and banning programs emanating from Russian media. In particular, there was no clear line between propaganda for war and hatred, proscribed under international norms, and legally protected Kremlin interpretation of the events in Ukraine. The comparative analysis of case law attempts to provide a modern rationale for regulation of propaganda for war and hatred and through it to offer relevant recommendations. Introduction The year 2014 marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I. It is worthwhile to recall that the Austro-Hungarian ultimatum to Serbia, which precipitated the start of the hostilities, included a major demand to stop nationalistic propaganda, as it flared the existing controversies.
    [Show full text]
  • Conceptualising Historical Crimes
    Should crimes committed in the course of Conceptualising history that are comparable to genocide, crimes against humanity or war crimes be Historical Crimes referred to as such, whatever the label used at the time?180 This is the question I want to examine below. Let us compare the prob- lems of labelling historical crimes with his- torical and recent concepts, respectively.181 Historical concepts for historical crimes “Historical concepts” are terms used to de- scribe practices by the contemporaries of these practices. Scholars can defend the use of historical concepts with the argu- ment that many practices deemed inadmis- sible today (such as slavery, human sacri- fice, heritage destruction, racism, censor- ship, etc.) were accepted as rather normal and sometimes even as morally and legally right in some periods of the past. Arguably, then, it would be unfaithful to the sources, misleading and even anachronistic to use Antoon De Baets the present, accusatory labels to describe University of Groningen them. This would mean, for example, that one should not call the crimes committed during the Crusades crimes against hu- manity (even if a present observer would have good reason to qualify some of these crimes as such), for such a concept was nonexistent at the time. A radical variant of the latter is the view that not only recent la- bels should be avoided but even any moral judgments of past crimes. This argument, however, can be coun- tered with several objections. First, diverg- ing judgments. It is well known that parties V HISTOREIN OLU M E 11 (2011) involved in violent conflicts label these conflicts differently.
    [Show full text]
  • The Public Eye, Summer 2010
    Right-Wing Co-Opts Civil Rights Movement History, p. 3 TheA PUBLICATION OF POLITICAL R PublicEyeESEARCH ASSOCIATES Summer 2010 • Volume XXV, No.2 Basta Dobbs! Last year, a coalition of Latino/a groups suc - cessfully fought to remove anti-immigrant pundit Lou Dobbs from CNN. Political Research Associates Executive DirectorTarso Luís Ramos spoke to Presente.org co-founder Roberto Lovato to find out how they did it. Tarso Luís Ramos: Tell me about your organization, Presente.org. Roberto Lovato: Presente.org, founded in MaY 2009, is the preeminent online Latino adVocacY organiZation. It’s kind of like a MoVeOn.org for Latinos: its goal is to build Latino poWer through online and offline organiZing. Presente started With a campaign to persuade GoVernor EdWard Rendell of PennsYlVania to take a stand against the Verdict in the case of Luis RamíreZ, an undocumented immigrant t t e Who Was killed in Shenandoah, PennsYl - k n u l Vania, and Whose assailants Were acquitted P k c a J bY an all-White jurY. We also ran a campaign / o t o to support the nomination of Sonia h P P SotomaYor to the Supreme Court—We A Students rally at a State Board of Education meeting, Austin, Texas, March 10, 2010 produced an “I Stand With SotomaYor” logo and poster that people could displaY at Work or in their neighborhoods and post on their Facebook pages—and a feW addi - From Schoolhouse to Statehouse tional, smaller campaigns, but reallY the Curriculum from a Christian Nationalist Worldview Basta Dobbs! continues on page 12 By Rachel Tabachnick TheTexas Curriculum IN THIS ISSUE Controversy objectiVe is present—a Christian land goV - 1 Editorial .
    [Show full text]
  • Genocide and Belonging: Processes of Imagining Communities
    GENOCIDE AND BELONGING: PROCESSES OF IMAGINING COMMUNITIES ADENO ADDIS* ABSTRACT Genocide is often referred to as “the crime of crimes.” It is a crime that is very high on the nastiness scale. The purpose of the genocidaire is of course to destroy a community—a community that he regards as a threat to his own community, whether the threat is perceived as physical, economic or cultural. The way this takes place and the complicity of law in this process has been extensively explored by scholars. But the process of destroying a community is perversely often simultaneously an “exercise in community build- ing,” a process through which intra-communal bonds and belong- ing are sought to be strengthened. This aspect of genocide has been entirely neglected by scholars, especially the role of law in that pro- cess. This article makes and defends two claims about communities and belonging in relation to genocide. First, it argues that as per- verse as it sounds, genocide is in fact an exercise in community building and law is highly implicated in that process. It defends the thesis with arguments that are conceptual as well as empirical. The second, and more hopeful, claim is that the international response * W. R. Irby Chair and W. Ray Forrester Professor of Public and Constitutional Law, Tulane University School of Law. Previous drafts of the paper were presented at an international conference at the Guanghua Law School of Zhejiang University (China) and at Tulane Law School faculty symposium. I thank participants at those meetings for the many helpful questions and comments.
    [Show full text]
  • Recommendations to National Courts and Tribunals in Relation to the Initiation of Preliminary Ruling Proceedings
    8.11.2019 EN Official Journal of the European Union C 380/1 I (Resolutions, recommendations and opinions) RECOMMENDATIONS COURT OF JUSTICE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION Recommenda- Recommendations to national courts and tribunals in relation to the initiation of preliminary ruling proceedings (2019/C 380/01) These recommendations have been drawn up for the attention of the courts and tribunals of the Member States of the European Union and echo the provisions of Title III of the Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice (1). They serve as a reminder of the essential characteristics of the preliminary ruling procedure and the matters to be taken into account by the national courts and tribunals before a reference for a preliminary ruling is made to the Court of Justice, while providing practical guidance as to the form and content of requests for a preliminary ruling. Since such requests will be served, after having been translated, on all the interested persons referred to in Article 23 of the Protocol on the Statute of the Court of Justice of the European Union and the decisions of the Court closing the proceedings will in principle be published in all the official languages of the European Union, close attention must be paid to the presentation of requests for a preliminary ruling and, in particular, to the protection of the personal data which they contain. (1) OJ L 265, 29.9.2012, p. 1. C 380/2 EN Official Journal of the European Union 8.11.2019 Table of contents Paragraphs Introduction 1-2 I. Provisions which apply to all requests for a
    [Show full text]
  • The Relationship Between International Humanitarian Law and the International Criminal Tribunals Hortensia D
    Volume 88 Number 861 March 2006 The relationship between international humanitarian law and the international criminal tribunals Hortensia D. T. Gutierrez Posse Hortensia D. T. Gutierrez Posse is Professor of Public International Law, University of Buenos Aires Abstract International humanitarian law is the branch of customary and treaty-based international positive law whose purposes are to limit the methods and means of warfare and to protect the victims of armed conflicts. Grave breaches of its rules constitute war crimes for which individuals may be held directly accountable and which it is up to sovereign states to prosecute. However, should a state not wish to, or not be in a position to, prosecute, the crimes can be tried by international criminal tribunals instituted by treaty or by binding decision of the United Nations Security Council. This brief description of the current legal and political situation reflects the state of the law at the dawn of the twenty-first century. It does not, however, describe the work of a single day or the fruit of a single endeavour. Quite the contrary, it is the outcome of the international community’s growing awareness, in the face of the horrors of war and the indescribable suffering inflicted on humanity throughout the ages, that there must be limits to violence and that those limits must be established by the law and those responsible punished so as to discourage future perpetrators from exceeding them. Short historical overview International humanitarian law has played a decisive role in this development, as both the laws and customs of war and the rules for the protection of victims fall 65 H.
    [Show full text]
  • East Timor Au Timor Oriental UNTAET
    UNITED NATIONS NATIONS UNIES United Nations Transitional Administration Administration Transitoire des Nations Unies in East Timor au Timor Oriental UNTAET UNTAET/REG/2000/15 6 June 2000 REGULATION NO. 2000/15 ON THE ESTABLISHMENT OF PANELS WITH EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION OVER SERIOUS CRIMINAL OFFENCES The Special Representative of the Secretary-General (hereinafter: Transitional Administrator), Pursuant to the authority given to him under United Nations Security Council resolution 1272 (1999) of 25 October 1999, Taking into account United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) Regulation No.1999/1 of 27 November 1999 on the Authority of the Transitional Administration in East Timor (hereinafter: UNTAET Regulation No. 1999/1), Taking into account UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/11 of 6 March 2000 on the Organisation of Courts in East Timor (hereinafter: UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/11) as amended by UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/14 of 10 May 2000 (hereinafter: UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/14), Recalling the recommendations of the International Commission of Inquiry of East Timor in their report to the Secretary-General of January 2000, After consultation in the National Consultative Council, For the purpose of establishing panels with exclusive jurisdiction over serious criminal offences as referred to under Section 10.1 of UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/11, Promulgates the following: I. General Section 1 Panels with Jurisdiction over Serious Criminal Offences 1.1 Pursuant to Section 10.3 of UNTAET Regulation No. 2000/11, there shall be established panels of judges (hereinafter: "panels") within the District Court in Dili with exclusive jurisdiction to deal with serious criminal offences. PURL: https://www.legal-tools.org/doc/c082f8/ 1.2 Pursuant to Section 15.5 of UNTAET Regulation No.
    [Show full text]
  • The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: a Great Mistake? (The Earl Snyder Lecture in International Law)
    Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies Volume 13 Issue 1 Article 1 Winter 2006 The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: A Great Mistake? (The Earl Snyder Lecture in International Law) Jillaine Seymour Sidney Sussex College Follow this and additional works at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls Part of the International Law Commons, and the Law of the Sea Commons Recommended Citation Seymour, Jillaine (2006) "The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: A Great Mistake? (The Earl Snyder Lecture in International Law)," Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies: Vol. 13 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at: https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ijgls/vol13/iss1/1 This Lecture is brought to you for free and open access by the Law School Journals at Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies by an authorized editor of Digital Repository @ Maurer Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea: A Great Mistake? JILLAINE SEYMOUR* ABSTRACT This articlediscusses the InternationalTribunalfor the Law of the Sea and ques- tions its role and value. The U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea seems to contem- platefairly extensivejurisdictionfor the Tribunal,but since its inception, the Tribunal has heard a very limited number and scope of cases, in part because disputants have other optionsfor adjudication.This articleprovides a detailed discussion of the juris- diction of the Tribunal. The Tribunalhas compulsoryjurisdiction in "promptrelease" cases and in claimsfor provisionalmeasures where the arbitraltribunal before which the claim will ultimately be brought has not yet been constituted.
    [Show full text]
  • Applying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: a Case Study of Henry Kissinger
    Applying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: A Case Study of Henry Kissinger Steven Feldsteint TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction .......................................... 1665 I. Background ........... ....... ..................... 1671 A . H enry Kissinger ........................................................................ 1672 B. The Development of International Humanitarian Law ............. 1675 1. Sources of International Law ............................................. 1676 2. Historical Development of International Humanitarian L aw ..................................................................................... 16 7 7 3. Post-World War 11 Efforts to Codify International Hum anitarian Principles ................................................. 1680 a. The 1948 Genocide Convention ......................................... 1680 b. The Geneva Conventions ................................................... 1682 c. United Nations Suite of Human Rights Conventions ......... 1684 C. The Development of International War Crimes Tribunals ....... 1685 1. N urem berg Tribunal ........................................................... 1685 2. IC TY and IC TR .................................................................. 1687 3. The International Criminal Court ....................................... 1688 4. U niversal Jurisdiction ......................................................... 1694 5. A lien Tort Claim s A ct ........................................................ 1695 I1. Individual Accountability
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of the ICTY in the Development of International Criminal Adjudication
    Fordham International Law Journal Volume 23, Issue 2 1999 Article 10 The Role of the ICTY in the Development of International Criminal Adjudication Ivan Simonovic∗ ∗ Copyright c 1999 by the authors. Fordham International Law Journal is produced by The Berke- ley Electronic Press (bepress). http://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/ilj The Role of the ICTY in the Development of International Criminal Adjudication Ivan Simonovic Abstract This Essay examines the specific conditions and motives that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (‘Tribunal‘ or ‘ICTY‘), its features as both a legal and a political institution, and the role of the ICTY in the development of international criminal adjudication. First, this article discusses the establishment of the ICTY. Second, this article discusses the role of the ICTY as a political and legal institution. Third, this article explores the role of the ICTY in the development of international criminal adjudication. Finally, this article evaluates the results of the ICTY to date. THE ROLE OF THE ICTY IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL ADJUDICATION Ivan SimonovW* I. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE ICTY Just a few years ago, the idea of the establishment of an in- ternational war crimes tribunal seemed noble yet unrealistic, and the possibility of its realization very distant. Today we have ad hoc tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and the process of the establishment of a permanent international crimi- nal court (or "ICC") has advanced considerably. Why has there been such a change in so short a time? What future develop- ments in this area are to be expected? This Essay examines the specific conditions and motives that led to the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia' ("Tribunal" or "ICTY"), its features as both a legal and a political institution, and the role of the ICTY in the development of inter- national criminal adjudication.
    [Show full text]
  • Annulment: the Process and Its Meaning
    Annulment: The Process and its Meaning By Patrick Lagges, JCD For some, it is a source of healing; for others, a source of scandal. For most, it remains a dark, murky process that is heard about only through rumor and gossip. The subject of declarations of nullity in the Roman Catholic Church has been a source of misunderstanding for many Catholics, especially those who grew up in the Church prior to the Second Vatican Council. For many people with a traditional Catholic education, annulments were rarely, if ever, obtained, and then only for the most serious reasons. Marriages which produced children or lasted for any length of time were believed to be incapable of being declared null. Much of that had to do with the Church's teaching about the nature of marriage. With the advent of the Second Vatican Council, however, that teaching was re-examined and formulated in a different way. An Unfortunate Choice of Terms To say that the Church annuls a marriage is not quite correct - for several reasons. First, the term "annulment" implies that the Church is doing something to a marriage. In reality, by granting an annulment, the Church is simply declaring something about a marriage. It says that some key element was missing from the very beginning which rendered the marriage invalid. Second, the term "annulment" implies that a relationship is being denied or done away with. This is the source of most people's question: "How can you deny that our marriage ever existed?" Onceagain, declaration of nullity does not mean this.
    [Show full text]
  • Fm 6-27 Mctp 11-10C the Commander's Handbook on the Law of Land Warfare
    FM 6-27 MCTP 11-10C THE COMMANDER'S HANDBOOK ON THE LAW OF LAND WARFARE AUGUST 2019 DISTRIBUTION RESTRICTION: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. This publication supersedes FM 27-10/MCTP 11-10C, dated 18 July 1956. HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY HEADQUARTERS, UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS Foreword The lessons of protracted conflict confirm that adherence to the law of armed conflict (LOAC) by the land forces, both in intern ational and non-international armed conflict, must serve as the standard that we train to and apply across the entire range of military operations. Adhering to LOAC enhances the legitimacy of our operations and supports the moral framework of our armed forces. We have learned th at we deviate from these norms to our detriment and risk undercutting both domesti c and international support for our operations. LOAC has been and remains a vital guide for all military operations conducted by the U.S. Governm ent. This fi eld manual provides a general description of the law of land warfare for Soldiers and Marines, delineated as statements of doctrine and practice, to gui de the land forces in conducting di sci plined military operations in accordance with the rule of law. The Department of Defense Law of War Manual (June 20 15, updated December 2016) is the authoritative statement on the law of war for the Department of Defense. In the event of a conflict or discrepancy regarding the legal standards addressed in this publication and th e DOD Law of War Manual, the latter takes precedence.
    [Show full text]