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Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armed Conflict: Humanitarian and Human Rights Law in Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2024

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Abstract

In this edition of the Review's “Beyond the Literature” series, we have invited George Dvaladze to introduce his recent book Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armed Conflict, before then posing a series of questions to Nelly Kamunde, Mona Rishmawi, Vanessa Murphy and Alexander Breitegger.

Nelly Kamunde is a lawyer in Kenya and has been working as an independent researcher, lecturer, and trainer with various institutions in international humanitarian law (IHL). Mona Rishmawi is the former Chief of the Rule of Law, Equality and Non-Discrimination Branch of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Vanessa Murphy is the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Legal Adviser responsible for conflict-related legal issues regarding gender, the protection of children and the protection of the environment. Alexander Breitegger is a Senior Legal Adviser at the ICRC's Thematic Legal Advice Unit; he focuses on IHL and persons with disabilities as part of his thematic files and provides support for the implementation of the ICRC Vision 2030 on Disability.

The Review team is grateful to all four discussants, and to George, for taking part in this engaging conversation.

Keywords

adverse distinctiondiscriminationequalityinternational humanitarian lawhuman rights
Type
Beyond the Literature
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 106 , Issue 926: Selected Articles , August 2024 , pp. 949 - 975
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Committee of the Red Cross

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Footnotes

*

Published by Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2023. Discussion conducted by Bruno Demeyere, Editor-in-Chief of the Review.

The advice, opinions and statements contained in this article are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ICRC. The ICRC does not necessarily represent or endorse the accuracy or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement or other information provided in this article.

References

1 See the ICRC's International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges of Contemporary Armed Conflicts reports for 2003, p. 7; 2007, p. 4; 2015, p. 5; 2019, pp. 41–43; and 2024, pp. 3, 12–14, 25–29.

2 Henckaerts, Jean-Marie and Doswald-Beck, Louise (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar (ICRC Customary Law Study), Rule 88, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1/rule88.

3 HRC, General Comment No. 35, “Article 9 (Liberty and Security of Person)”, 2014.

4 HRC, General Comment No. 36, “Article 6: Right to Life”, 2018.

5 HRC, above note 3, para. 12.

6 CESCR, General Comment No. 20, “Non-Discrimination in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights”, 2009.

7 See, for example, ICRC, Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention: Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, 2nd ed., Geneva, 2020 (ICRC Commentary on GC III), Art. 3, paras 601–616, and Art. 16, paras 1734–1771; ICRC, International Humanitarian Law and a Gender Perspective in the Planning and Conduct of Military Operations, Geneva, 2024; ICRC, Gendered Impacts of Armed Conflict and Implications for the Application of International Humanitarian Law, Geneva, 2022; ICRC, IHL and the Challenges of Contemporary Armed Conflicts, Geneva, 2019, pp. 41–43.

8 ICRC Commentary on GCIII, above note 7, paras 99–105.

9 Alexander Breitegger, “Towards a Disability-Inclusive IHL: ICRC Views and Recommendations”, Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog, 6 July 2023, available at: https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2023/07/06/towards-disability-inclusive-ihl-icrc-views-recommendations/.

10 Ibid.

11 See above note 7.

12 ICRC, Reducing Civilian Harm in Urban Warfare: A Commander's Handbook, Geneva, 2021.

13 Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 287 (entered into force 21 October 1950) (GC IV), Arts 14, 15.

14 See e.g. ibid., Art. 17.

15 ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Ljube Boškoski and Johan Tarčulovski, Case No. IT-04-82-A, 2005–10, available at: www.icty.org/case/boskoski_tarculovski.

16 See, for instance, Article 5(h) of the ICTY Statute, related to “persecution on political, racial, and religious grounds when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population”, as was discussed in ICTY, Boškoski, above note 15.

17 Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armed Conflict, p. 226.

18 Swedish Red Cross, IHL and Gender: Lessons Learned from a Field Study in Uganda, 23 December 2015, p. 19.

19 Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armed Conflict, p. 223.

20 See ibid., p. 235.

21 Ibid., p. 235.

22 See ibid., pp. 253–257.

23 Murphy, Vanessa and Cameron, Lindsey, “Gender Bias and International Humanitarian Law: Is Human Rights Law the Answer?”, Japanese Yearbook of International Law, Vol. 66, 2023Google Scholar.

24 ICJ, The Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa), Advisory Opinion, 21 June 1971, available at: www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/53/053-19710621-ADV-01-00-EN.pdf.

25 ICJ, The Legal Consequences Arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, Advisory Opinion, 19 July 2024, available at: www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-00-en.pdf.

26 Emilie Venables, “My Father and Cows Will Go to Court, not Me”: Male Perceptions of Sexual Violence in South Sudan and the Central African Republic, ICRC, Geneva, 2022, available at: www.icrc.org/en/publication/4589-male-perceptions-sexual-violence-south-sudan-and-central-african-republic.

27 V. Murphy and L. Cameron, above note 23.

28 Rishmawi, Mona, “Protecting the Right to Life in Protracted Conflicts: The Existence and Dignity Dimensions of General Comment 36”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 101, No. 912, 2019CrossRefGoogle Scholar,

29 Ibid.

30 Edward E. Azar, The Management of Protracted Social Conflict: Theory and Cases, Dartmouth Publishing Company, Dartmouth, 1990, p. 2.

31 Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armed Conflict, pp. 271–272.

32 Ibid., section 2.1.4.3.

33 Ibid., section 2.1.5.

34 Ibid., p. 151.

35 Ibid., p. 271.

36 Vera Bergengruen, “How Tech Giants Turned Ukraine into an AI War Lab”, Time, 8 February 2024, available at: https://time.com/6691662/ai-ukraine-war-palantir/.

37 Bethan McKernan and Harry Davies, “‘The Machine Did It Coldly’: Israel Used AI to Identify 37,000 Hamas Targets”, The Guardian, 3 April 2024, available at: www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/03/israel-gaza-ai-database-hamas-airstrikes.

38 ICRC and Geneva Academy, Artificial Intelligence and Related Technologies in Military Decision-Making on the Use of Force in Armed Conflicts: Current Developments and Potential Implications, Expert Consultation Report, Geneva, 2024, available at: https://shop.icrc.org/expert-consultation-report-artificial-intelligence-and-related-technologies-in-military-decision-making-on-the-use-of-force-in-armed-conflicts-current-developments-and-potential-implications-pdf-en.html.

39 Arthur Holland Michel, Decisions, Decisions, Decisions: Computation and Artificial Intelligence in Military Decision-Making, ICRC, Geneva, 2024, available at: https://shop.icrc.org/decisions-decisions-decisions-computation-and-artificial-intelligence-in-military-decision-making-pdf-en.html.

40 See also ICRC, “Artificial Intelligence in Military Decision Making: Legal and Humanitarian Implications”, 14 May 2024, available at: www.icrc.org/en/event/event-artificial-intelligence-military-decision-making-legal-and-humanitarian-implications.

41 “Colossus”, Britannica, available at: www.britannica.com/technology/Colossus-computer.

42 “AI Will Transform the Character of Warfare”, The Economist, 22 June 2024, p. 9.

43 ICRC, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Armed Conflict: A Human-Centred Approach, Geneva, 2021, available at: https://international-review.icrc.org/sites/default/files/reviews-pdf/2021-03/ai-and-machine-learning-in-armed-conflict-a-human-centred-approach-913.pdf.

44 ICRC, ICRC Position on Autonomous Weapons Systems, Geneva, 2021, available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-position-autonomous-weapon-systems.

45 For an analysis of AI and gender bias, see Farrés Jimenez, “Embedding Gender in International Humanitarian Law: Is Artificial Intelligence Up to the Task?”, Just Security, 27 August 2021, available at: www.justsecurity.org/77970/embedding-gender-in-international-humanitarian-law-is-artificial-intelligence-up-to-the-task/.

46 See e.g. Rights of Persons with Disabilities: Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UN Doc. A/HRC/49/52, 28 December 2021, para. 54; Figueroa, Mariana Díaz, Orozco, Anderson Henao, Martínez, Jes's and Jaime, Wanda Muñoz, “The Risks of Autonomous Weapons: An Analysis Centred on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 105, No. 922, 2023Google Scholar.

47 Rights of Persons with Disabilities, above note 46; M. Díaz Figueroa et al., above note 46.

48 ICJ, Case Concerning Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda), Judgment, 2005.

49 Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armed Conflict, pp. 147–150.

50 Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan, UN Doc. A/HRC/57/23, 5 September 2024, available at: https://tinyurl.com/2xdpy5mc.

51 UNGA Res. 60/147, “Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law”, 15 December 2005, available at: www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/basic-principles-and-guidelines-right-remedy-and-reparation.

52 Equality and Non-Discrimination in Armed Conflict, sections 1.3, 2.1.3.

53 Ibid., p. 271.