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The implementation of international humanitarian law in the Russian Federation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Bakhtiyar Tuzmukhamedov
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Extract

The object of this article is to identify several issues pertinent to impie-mentation of international humanitarian law in the Russian Federation. It first examines the relevant provisions of the Russian Constitution of 1993 and discusses the extent to which they provide for the incorporation of international norms. An overview of current Russian legislation is then given, focusing on some specific examples of legislative incorporation of international humanitarian law. That overview will not be confined to laws adopted solely by the Russian parliament. References to international law and more specifically to international humanitarian law can also be found in military field manuals that are binding on the Russian armed forces and other uniformed armed services. Finally, a notable case decided by the Russian Constitutional Court in 1995 with regard to the implementation of international humanitarian law is discussed. In its decision, the supreme body of judicial review in the Russian Federation made remarkable references to the Additional Protocol II of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.1

Type
Affaires courantes et Commentaires/Current issues and Comments
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 85 , Issue 850: L'interprétation du droit international humanitaire par les tribunaux internationaux/Interpretation of international humanitarian law by the international tribunals , June 2003 , pp. 385 - 396
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2003

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References

1 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), of 8 June 1977.

2 An English-language version of the Constitution of the Russian Federation is available on the website of the Constitutional Court at http://ks.rfnet.ru/english/rus_eng.htm.

3 Kommentariy k Konstitutsii Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Commentary to the Constitution of the Russian Federation), Moscow, 1996, p. 80.

4 Constitution of the Russian Federation, Art. 15(1), op. cit. (note 3).

5 Art. Vl(2) of the Constitution of the United States reads as follows: “This Constitution and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land, and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.”

6 Sobraniye Zakonodatelstva Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Collection of Legislation of the Russian Federation), hereinafter SZ RF, 17 July 1995, No. 29, Art. 2757.

7 Byulleten’ Verkhovnogo Suda Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Bulletin of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation), No.1, 1996.

8 See, most recently: Ruling of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation No. 290-O of 21 December 2000, in SZ RF, op. cit. (note 6), No. 11,12 March 2001, Art. 1069.

9 For a general discussion of the subject in Russian, see Batyr, V.A., “Aktual'niye Problemy Implementatsii Norm MGPvZakonodatel'stve Rossiyskoy Federatsii” (“Current issues of the implementation of the norms of international humanitarian law in the legislation of the Russian Federation”) Moscow Journal of International Law, 1999, special issue to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, pp. 193–209.Google Scholar

10 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological (Biological) and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, 10 April 1972.

11 Convention on the Prohibition of Military or any Other Hostile Use of Environmental Modification Techniques, 10 December 1976.

12 Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects, Geneva, 10 October 1980.

13 Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, 13 January 1993.

14 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 17 July 1998.

15 Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-personnel Mines and on their Destruction, 18 September 1997.

16 The original version of the 1960 Criminal Code was published in: Vedomosti Verkhovnogo Sovieta Rossiyskoy Sovietskoy Federativnoy Respubliki (The Official Gazette of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Socialist Federal Republic), No. 40, 1960, Art. 591. The final consolidated version incorporating all numerous amendments is available from the ConsultantPlus© commercial database.

17 The original version of the 1966 Criminal Code was published in: SZ RF, op. cit. (note 6), No. 25,17 June 1996, Art. 2954. The current consolidated version incorporating amendments is available from the Consultant Plus © commercial database. The translation cited above is by the author.

18 Occasionally the Russian legislators seem to be stretching the prevalence clause of the Russian Constitution a bit too far. Consider, for example, the Federal Law on Pedigree Cattle-Breeding which states in its Article 3 that “generally recognized principles and norms of international law and international treaties of the Russian Federation relative to pedigree cattle-breeding shall be, in accordance with the Constitution of the Russian Federation, a component part of its juridical system. If an international treaty of the Russian Federation provides for rules other than stipulated by a law relative to pedigree cattle-breeding, the rules of the international treaty shall be applied” (SZ RF-op. cit. (note 6), No. 32, 7 August 1995, Art. 3199). Author's translation.

19 For a more detailed discussion see ES. Tuzmukhamedov, “Rimskiy Statut Mezhdunarodnogo Ugolovnogo Suda: Vozmozhniye Voprosy Konstitutsionnosti” (“The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Possible issues of constitutionality”), Moscow Journal of International Law, No. 2, 2002, pp. 165–173.

20 To incorporate the obligations under the Rome Statute, the French Constitution was amended by means of Art. 53–2, which stated: “La République peut reconnaître la juridiction de la Cour pénale internationale dans les conditions prévues par le traité signé le 18 juillet 1998”. In Germany, the absolute prohibition on extraditing a German anywhere outside Germany, contained in Art. 16(2) of the Basic Law (embodying the federal constitution), was qualified by adding the following: “Durch Gesetz kann eine abweichende Regelung für Auslieferungen an einen Mitgliedstaat der Europäischen Union oder an einen internationalen Gerichtshof getroffen werden, soweit rechtsstaatliche Grundsätze gewahrt sind”.

21 SZ RF, op. cit. (note 6), No. 22, 1 June 1998, Art. 2331.

22 Ustav Vnutrenney Sluzhby Vooruzhennykh Sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii (The Service Regulations of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation), Military Publishing House, Moscow, 1994.

23 Published by the Central Printing Office of the Russian Federation's Ministry of Defence.

24 Prikaz Ministra Oborony SSSR No. 75 16 fevralya 1990 goda ob ob'yavlenii Zhenevskikh konventsiy o zaschite zhertv voiny ot 12 avgusta 1949 goda i Dopolnitelnikh protokolov k nim (USSR Minister of Defence Order No. 75 of 16 February 1990 promulgating the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Victims of War of 12 August 1949 and Additional Protocols), Moscow, 1990, p. 317.

25 Vedomosti S'yezda Narodnykh Deputatov i Verkhovnogo Sovieta SSSR (The Official Gazette of the Congress of Peoples’ Deputies and of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR), No. 9, 9 August 1989, Art. 225.

26 The Guidelines amounted to a mere eight pages of the entire 317-page volume.

27 Nastavleniye po mezhdunarodnomu gumanitarnomu pravu dlya Vooruzhennikh Sil Rossiyskoy Federatsii (Manual of International Humanitarian Law for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation), Moscow, 2002, p. 88.

28 Among others, Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts: Manual, edited by the Federal Ministry of Defence of the Federal Republic of Germany, VR II 3, August 1992, p. 154.

29 Unpublished, on file with the author.

30 SZ RF, op. cit. (note 6), No. 33,14 August 1995, Art. 3424.