IHL Research
The International Humanitarian Law Project was established in January 2006 under the LSE Law Department to facilitate collaborative interdisciplinary research and to create a forum for enhancing a greater dialogue between the scholarly community, policymakers and those working in the field. Even prior to the catastrophic events of 9/11 IHL was confronted by a daunting set of new challenges of which the most troubling has been the escalation in the intentional targeting of civilians in armed conflict. In the post 9/11 period these problems have been further compounded by 'the war on terror' that has conflated the law enforcement paradigm with the laws of armed conflict serving to inject a considerable degree of ambiguity into the scope and content of the applicable rules. Whether IHL is able to adequately respond to the changing means and methods of warfare and to the emergence of non-state actors with the capacity for inflicting harm that rivals states has been questioned as has, when, in the spectrum of violence IHL applies and how it interacts with international human rights law.
By engaging in legal research of the highest level of scholarship, the Project aims to address some of the most contentious and difficult areas of law and make a significant contribution to the clarification and development of IHL. It aims to generate material that will be of practical value to policymakers and suggest ways in which the law can best secure and promote policy objectives that aim to protect the victims of armed conflict.
The Project will focus on the following two parallel and complementary research initiatives:
A. The Legal Spectrum of Violence
In a report published at its 28th International Conference, the International Committee of the Red Cross concluded that: “the overriding legal and moral challenges presently facing the international community is to find ways of dealing with new forms of violence while preserving existing standards of protection provided by international law, including international humanitarian law.” With this in mind, and under the overarching theme ‘The Legal Spectrum of Violence’, the IHL Project will engage in collaborative inter-disciplinary research aimed at clarifying and developing the law of armed conflict. A collection of essays will be published following a series of roundtable sessions bringing together leading scholars and experts in the field.
B. Forgotten Conflicts
To complement its doctrinal and theoretical output, the Project intends to examine the role of law in specific armed conflicts, notably those that are often neglected by scholars and the wider public. The Project will consider how the law is able to better secure and promote policy objectives that address the causes of some of the more complex regional conflicts, constrain the use of violence during such hostilities, and advance post-conflict peace, stability, and nation-building. Its objective is to produce a series of occasional papers, articles and working group reports that will not only contribute significantly to legal scholarship but also be of practical utility to different stakeholders.
As its first priority, the Project intends to focus on the groundbreaking agreement that was entered into between eleven states in the Great Lakes region of Africa in December 2006. The Pact on Security, Stability and Development incorporates and codifies an integrated 'human security' approach to addressing the causes and consequences of conflict. Whether this approach is more effectively able to respond to and accommodate the needs of women, children and internally displaced peoples (IDPs) will be the subject of critical review and further research.
Through field work conducted in collaboration with other experts and social scientists based in the relevant countries Project members will critically assess the extent to which international law's normative framework is being implemented in practice. It will consider how different legal regimes co-exist and interact with one another and evaluate whether existing international law mechanisms and processes are delivering their stated objectives. The proposed research will centre on the plight of women, children and IDPs in conflict and post-conflict environments and how the law might better serve to protect each of these groups. The output of the field work will be fully integrated into future conferences and public events each of which will provide the IHL Project with a forum for disseminating its work to a global audience.
One of the Project's overriding priorities is to ensure that its work will be of practical benefit to its target audience. The fate of victims of armed conflict depends on the knowledge and understanding that soldiers have of the rules of IHL as well as the extent to which policy makers have a firm grasp of IHL principles since they are responsible for its application. It is equally vital that the legal profession and the media are well versed in IHL for each have different roles to play in holding individuals and states to account in meeting their legal obligations. The academic community has a crucial role to play in providing a deeper understanding of the law and how the principles are translated into rules that can be effectively implemented to protect the vulnerable in armed conflict.
To join our mailing list and keep informed of upcoming events, please send an email to IHL.Project@lse.ac.uk.
