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1 – 10 of over 2000
Book part
Publication date: 17 September 2020

Charuka Ekanayake

This Chapter is written in an era in which the United Nations (UN) routinely deploys Missions to environments that satisfy the armed conflict threshold. Such Missions often

Abstract

This Chapter is written in an era in which the United Nations (UN) routinely deploys Missions to environments that satisfy the armed conflict threshold. Such Missions often require personnel to employ significant levels of force, whether to safeguard mission and humanitarian personnel, to protect civilians, to neutralise violent armed groups or, in pure self-defence. But use as well as non-use of force can readily frustrate the very objectives these troops are deployed to uphold, in turn creating gaps between the Promises they make and the Outcomes they actually secure. On the other hand, current Missions such as MINUSMA in Mali have proven to be amongst the deadliest for UN troops in the entire history of UN Peacekeeping. The thin line between use and non-use of force must therefore be trodden with utmost care. This Chapter tries to find answers to this dilemma from a moral perspective and considers how the peculiar nature of the morality of resort to force by the UN influences that of its use of force. It assesses why the latter should be calibrated or adjusted to comply with the former, and how this can consequently channel UN troop conduct towards the objectives pursued through deployment. It is only where these realities are understood and addressed, the Chapter submits, that the aforementioned Gaps between Promises and Outcomes can be redressed and closed.

Details

War, Peace and Organizational Ethics
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-83982-777-8

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Drones and the Law
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80043-249-9

Book part
Publication date: 8 July 2010

Minako Ichikawa Smart

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the current limitations in compensating the civilian victims of armed conflicts and to examine the possibility of extending…

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this chapter is to highlight the current limitations in compensating the civilian victims of armed conflicts and to examine the possibility of extending this practice.

Methodology/approach – The first half of the chapter employs legal and political analysis of the current framework of international law and the practice of the United States. The latter half of the chapter examines the literature on theory of liability in economics and philosophy.

Findings – The framework of international law, which does not require compensation for the victims of lawful attacks, is increasingly at odds with the current trend in which military force is used by a powerful state against a much weaker state on the grounds that the local population would benefit from the operation. The system developed by the United States is the most extensive and can form a model for other states and international institutions. Keating's analysis of enterprise liability can be applied to compensation of victims in military operations that are deemed to be beneficial to the population. Economic analysis, on contrary, suggests that compensation of civilian victims has minimal effect on the level of risks.

Originality/value – This chapter makes a unique contribution by applying theory of liability to a situation that widely diverges from the context in which the theory has developed. It critically examines the current practice and proposes a morally preferable and economically sustainable alternative model.

Details

Economics of War and Peace: Economic, Legal, and Political Perspectives
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-0-85724-004-0

Article
Publication date: 8 August 2018

Gholamreza Jalali Farahani, Reza Hosnavi, Mohamad Hasan Ataee, Ali Ghanbary Nasab and Mohammad Ali Ataee

The purpose of this paper is to determine and prioritize man-made threats that have the probability of occurring in civilian airports, as an important part of critical…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to determine and prioritize man-made threats that have the probability of occurring in civilian airports, as an important part of critical infrastructures in each country.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is practical-developmental in terms of research type and its approach is descriptive. Desktop research methods and interviews (qualitative) have been used in identifying deliberate man-made threats that are faced by the civilian airports. Moreover, a questionnaire (quantitative) has been utilized to assess the civilian airports’ assets that are targets likely to be threatened and assess threats by determining and prioritizing.

Findings

The results of the paper show that the main threat faced by civilian airports is “Air and missile strikes.” An additional 15 threats endangering civilian airports that have been extracted and presented through integrating specialized literature were prioritized in the main components of civilian airports. This prioritization has been performed on the basis of the following five indicators: “Damage Severity,” “Threat Precedent,” “Target Attractiveness,” “Negative Consequences for the Enemy” and “Enemy Ability.”

Originality/value

This paper is extracted from master’s thesis that identifies and assesses the threats to civil airport, and prioritizes them, and the results were confirmed by the experts.

Details

Property Management, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-7472

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 May 2014

Ulla Mari Ainikki Anttila

Contemporary armed conflicts predominantly take place in developing countries and there are often non-state actors involved in them. Civilians have been deliberately targeted in…

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Abstract

Purpose

Contemporary armed conflicts predominantly take place in developing countries and there are often non-state actors involved in them. Civilians have been deliberately targeted in recent conflicts, and the international community has paid more attention to their protection. Human security means that individuals’ safety is a priority on the security agenda. Organizational learning is necessary in crisis management in order to evolve and provide tools to ensure human security. Organizational learning in crisis management requires individual learning, but individual learning does not necessarily lead to organizational learning at the level of institutions. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the development of crisis management and peace-building when taking into account crisis management personnel's experiences and their value in organizational learning processes. The results are applied to the context of humanitarian logistics that have special features including pace in comparison to other crisis management contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

The empirical material consists of a Delphi panel process representing 15 experts and interviews of 27 individuals who had served as employees in civilian crisis management and military crisis management duties in Kosovo. The interviewees from the military side had background of being either a reservist or professional officer.

Findings

Interaction and communication abilities are required from crisis management personnel and institutions. Personnel in crisis management need opportunities to give and receive feedback. At the personal level, work in crisis management is important for an individual. Returning home may be more challenging for an individual than starting to work in a mission. The framework of organizational learning is adequate for developing crisis management and humanitarian logistics.

Originality/value

Crisis management personnel's feelings and opinions in depth have been rarely studied and the present study provides information about this personal level. Because of using two methods focussing on organizational learning and feedback, partial methodological triangular was carried out, which increased the reliability of the results. In regard to humanitarian logistics, feedback arrangements are also important when intending to develop learning organizations. Return arrangements for personnel in humanitarian logistics are also an important focus of study.

Details

Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2042-6747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 September 2021

Mark Dunkley

This paper examines the implications, for States Parties, of the 1954 Convention safeguarding regime in the context of contemporary non-international armed conflict and ANSAs…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper examines the implications, for States Parties, of the 1954 Convention safeguarding regime in the context of contemporary non-international armed conflict and ANSAs, with a general focus on the Middle East and in situ cultural property.

Design/methodology/approach

As the nature of conflict changes and armed forces become further engaged in supporting peacekeeping operations and deliver training to host nation security forces, and human security becomes an increasingly important function of military operations, the protection of cultural heritage (as an expression of a people's identity) becomes a significant contribution to individual operations.

Findings

International obligations to States Parties for the in situ protection of cultural heritage, under both International Humanitarian Law and HC54, become an ever increasing important responsibility for armed forces to help deliver.

Research limitations/implications

While NATO is increasingly focussed on the defence of western states parties from threats posed by the Russian Federation, and observing a commercially and military assertive China, a recent report issued by the Pentagon noted that the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is regrouping in Iraq faster than in Syria and could regain territory in six to twelve months in the absence of sustained military pressure.

Practical implications

Preservation in situ is used by heritage professionals to refer to the protection of a cultural heritage asset in its original location while the in situ protection of cultural property is a cornerstone topic of the 1954 Hague Convention Special Protection category. The Convention was drafted with international armed conflict in mind but the initial signatories to the Convention had sufficient foresight to consider non-international armed conflict and its potential effect on in situ cultural property by parties to the conflict, including Armed Non-State Actors (ANSA)

Social implications

UN Security Council Resolution 2449 (December 2018) recognized the negative impact of the presence, violent extremist ideology and actions on stability in Syria and the region of both Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Al-Nusrah Front (ANF). This includes not only the devastating humanitarian impact on civilian populations but also the unlawful destruction of cultural heritage.

Originality/value

ANSAs comprise individuals and groups that are wholly or partly independent of State governments and which threaten or use violence to achieve their goals, such as Islamic State. As such, the military operating environment has changed since 1954.

Details

Journal of Cultural Heritage Management and Sustainable Development, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2044-1266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2008

Rick Lines

This paper explores the health rights of prisoners as defined in international law, and the mechanisms that have been used to ensure the rights of persons in detention to realise…

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Abstract

This paper explores the health rights of prisoners as defined in international law, and the mechanisms that have been used to ensure the rights of persons in detention to realise the highest attainable standard of health. It examines this right as articulated within United Nations and regional human rights treaties, non‐binding or so‐called soft law instruments from international organisations and the jurisprudence of international human rights bodies. It explores the use of economic, social and cultural rights mechanisms, and those within civil and political rights, as they engage the right to health of prisoners, and identifies the minimum legal obligations of governments in order to remain compliant with human rights norms as defined within the international case law. In addressing these issues, this article adopts a holistic approach to the definition of the highest attainable standard of health. This includes a consideration of adequate standards of general medical care, including preventative health and mental health services. It also examines the question of environmental health, and those poor conditions of detention that may exacerbate health decline, disease transmission, mental illness or death. The paper examines the approach to prison health of the United Nations human rights system and its various monitoring bodies, as well as the regional human rights systems in Europe, Africa and the Americas. Based upon this analysis, the paper draws conclusions on the current fulfilment of the right to health of prisoners on an international scale, and proposes expanded mechanisms under the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment to monitor and promote the health rights of prisoners at the international and domestic levels.

Details

International Journal of Prisoner Health, vol. 4 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1744-9200

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 2005

Michel Veuthey

Within the context of an international conference dealing with global challenges, the Atlantic Community and the outlook for international order organized by Webster University

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Abstract

Purpose

Within the context of an international conference dealing with global challenges, the Atlantic Community and the outlook for international order organized by Webster University, Geneva (Switzerland), to propose an approach to strengthening the international order by reviving the global responsibility to abide by fundamental humanitarian rules.

Design/methodology/approach

The twentieth century presented a very disturbing catalog of violations of humanitarian law. In addressing the main question of the conference, namely “What are the true principles of international order today and do we need new rules and organizing principles in the future?”, the author tackles the issue from the international humanitarian law perspective and suggests various instruments (formal and informal) for enhancing the protection of human dignity.

Findings

A global responsibility to abide by fundamental humanitarian rules may be revived through positive law and judicial mechanisms, but also through a new respect for human life, a return to universal values found in all civilizations, religions and traditions, and through a new humanitarian order based on the core concept of humanity.

Originality/value

This paper suggests that it is through a combination of existing legal and humanitarian instruments, and not just one, that the international order can be strengthened.

Details

Foresight, vol. 7 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-6689

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 14 September 2015

Christo Odeyemi

Against the backdrop of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) policy – an instrument with which the UN seeks to protect vulnerable civilians from gross violations of human rights …

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Abstract

Purpose

Against the backdrop of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) policy – an instrument with which the UN seeks to protect vulnerable civilians from gross violations of human rights – this study examines the application of R2P in the Libyan intervention and the various efforts to replicate similar claim to intervene in Syria. While proposing that the roles of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) is increasingly influential to the success of an intervention, this study asks the question: what are the general conditions for success of R2P application in Libya and Syria during the period 2011-2014?

Design/methodology/approach

In its examination of the policy and scholarly works that have informed, justified and evaluated the processes and outcomes of the principles of R2P policy, this paper used relevant search terms for conditions for success of humanitarian military intervention (COSI). Specific keywords such as R2P, BRICS and humanitarian intervention are scrutinised for relevance to the research question. Documents that failed to satisfy the criteria of research quality were excluded, whereas the key problems and findings identified in each studied document were tabulated into inclusion and exclusion.

Findings

Despite the role of BRICS in the Libyan and Syrian interventions, existing literature failed to explicitly make this connection, although much of the literature agreed on a number of general conditions for success. This paper problematise the relationship between success and BRICS role. One of the reasons for this is the emerging nature of the literature that is beginning to appreciate the plausibility that the BRICS influences the success of an intervention.

Originality/value

This piece synthesises studies that focus on COSI with preference for works that engaged this study’s case countries. Much rich data which even until now are always in need of close examination emerged during data collection, making it useful to craft a third part for BRICS-focused literature that has informed the R2P debate.

Book part
Publication date: 15 October 2013

Caterine Arrabal Ward

I intend to provide an understanding of the possibilities that exist for the judgment of wartime rape at the international, domestic and in-between levels.

Abstract

Purpose

I intend to provide an understanding of the possibilities that exist for the judgment of wartime rape at the international, domestic and in-between levels.

Design/methodology/approach

What is required is an examination of prosecutions and judgments of the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), the ICTR (International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), the SCSL (Special Court for Sierra Leone) and the ICC (International Criminal Court). I employ an international law and gender studies approach.

Findings

To count as a crime against humanity, war rape must have been committed as part of a widespread attack on a civilian population. This reflects the idea that war rape is not based solely in the violation of a woman’s body. The problem is that war rapes occur absent the explicit purpose to destroy a community. This chapter provides insight to the historical background of wartime rape to scholars, feminist legal theorists, sociologists, NGOs and lawyers.

Originality/value

By alerting us to the fact that the international community appears to elevate violations of groups or communities over the violation of individual women during conflict, the chapter suggests that the human rights of women may not be fully protected.

Details

Gendered Perspectives on Conflict and Violence: Part A
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78350-110-6

Keywords

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