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Mr. Marco Sassòli

Mr. Marco Sassòli
Professor of International Law
University of Geneva, Switzerland

Biography Biography in PDF

Law of Armed Conflict
Introduction to International Humanitarian Law
"International Humanitarian Law (IHL) provides a certain protection to persons affected by armed conflicts. This lesson explores its philosophy and limits, its field of application, independently of the causes for which a party is fighting, its sources and the main distinctions under which and categories to which its protective rules apply (international and non-international armed conflicts, civilians and combatants, occupied and parties’ own territories, the concept of military objective)."

Video | Audio
(26/9/2013, 55 minutes)

The Field of Application of International Humanitarian Law: International and Non-International Armed Conflicts
"International Humanitarian Law (IHL) was born as a law applicable to international armed conflicts. Today an increasing number of its rules apply to armed conflicts not of an international character, which are the most frequent type of armed conflicts. This lesson explores when a situation can be classified as an armed conflict, how international and non-international armed conflicts can be distinguished, the current tendency to apply the same rules to both kinds of armed conflicts and the limits of this approach."

Video | Audio
(27/9/2013, 53 minutes)

International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law
"International Humanitarian Law (IHL) applies to armed conflicts; International Human Rights law (IHRL) was made for peacetime, but also applies in times of armed conflict. This lesson explores the traditional differences and growing convergence between these two branches of international law. On most issues covered by both branches they lead to the same result, with one providing more details. The results differ and the relationship is controversial, mainly in armed conflicts not of an international character, on two crucial questions: under what circumstances a person may be killed and for what reasons and under what procedure a person may be detained."

Video | Audio
( 27/9/2013, 60 minutes)
Law of Armed Conflict
Introduction to International Humanitarian Law
The Field of Application of International Humanitarian Law: International and Non-International Armed Conflicts
International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law
A. Legal Instruments

Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 (Text of the Conventions available on the website of Yale Law School’s Avalon Project).

Charter of the United Nations and Statute of the International Court of Justice, San Francisco, 26 June 1945.

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 31.

Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 85.

Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 135.

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Geneva, 12 August 1949, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 75, p. 287.

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, Rome, 4 November 1950, United Nations, Treaty Seriesvol. 213, p. 221.

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I), Geneva, 7 December 1978, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1125, p. 3.

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts (Protocol II), Geneva, 7 December 1978, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1125, p. 609.

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Rome, 17 July 1998, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2187, p. 3.

Second Protocol to The Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, The Hague, 26 March 1999, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2253, p. 212.

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the adoption of an additional distinctive emblem (Protocol III), Geneva, 8 December 2005, United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 2404, p. 277.

B. Jurisprudence

International Court of Justice, North Sea Continental Shelf, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 3.

International Court of Justice, Legality of the Use by a State of Nuclear Weapons in Armed Conflict, Advisory Opinion,  I.C.J. Reports 1996, p. 66.

International Court of Justice, Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Advisory Opinion, I.C.J. Reports 2004, p. 136.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Prosecutor v. Dúško Tadić, Judgment of 15 July 1999, IT-94-1-A.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Prosecutorv. Ljube Boškoski and Johan Tarculovski, Judgment of 10 July 2008, IT-04-82-T.

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Prosecutor v. Ramush Haradinaj. Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj, Judgment of 10 July 2010, IT-04-84-A.

C. Documents

H. Grotius, De jure belli ac pacis, Paris, 1625.

J-M. Henckaerts and L. Doswald-Beck, Customary International Humanitarian Law, Cambridge University Press, Geneva, 2006.

M. Sassòli, A. A. Bouvier, A. Quintin (eds.), How Does Law Protect in War?: Cases, Documents and Teaching Materials on Contemporary Practice in International Humanitarian Law, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, pp. 2-82, pp. 32-44, pp. 229-257, pp. 351-371.

M. Sassòli, A. A. Bouvier, A. Quintin (eds.) avec la collaboration de J. Garcia, Un droit dans la guerre ?: Cas, documents et supports d’enseignement relatifs à la pratique contemporaine du droit international humanitaire, Comité international de la Croix-Rouge, Genève, pp. 2-101, pp. 41-55, pp. 279-312, pp. 428-452.