The problem of protecting the environment in time of armed conflict has given rise to numerous discussions and major studies over the last two years.

In our opinion, there are at least two distinct reasons for the keen interest in this question. In the first place it is quite logically a response to the increasingly energetic efforts to improve, both nationally and internationally, the protection of the environment in peacetime. Secondly, this interest reflects the fears engendered during and after the 1990–1991 Gulf war that set the Middle East ablaze.

This article clarifies the ongoing confusion in doctrine and practice about both the actual and optimal interaction between international counterterrorism law (CTL) and international humanitarian law (IHL) in armed conflict. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the co-application of CTL with IHL, before considering a variety of techniques for mutually accommodating the interests of both regimes, particularly through partial exclusion clauses in counterterrorism instruments or laws. It concludes by identifying the optimal approach to the relationship between CTL and IHL, which recognizes the legitimate interests of both fields of law while minimizing the adverse impacts of each on the other.

The International Conference is based in particular on the long-established National Society auxiliary role and partnership with States. The importance of the Conference is clear from the Movement's Statutes. In practice, not all National Societies have taken full advantage of the opportunities provided by the International Conference for interaction and relationship-building with their own authorities. Practical ways are suggested to help National Societies participate more actively in the Conference and to use it to good benefit before and afterwards. The International Conference itself could increase its relevance by making more of its specific function with respect to international humanitarian law.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, associated with four Nobel Peace Prizes, is a unique and widely respected humanitarian actor. There were times in its past, however, when it was not as independent, neutral and impartial as is sometimes pictured. Since about 1970 it has made important changes in its structure and functioning so as to improve on the past. In contemporary times the ICRC has carved out an enduring place for neutral humanitarianism in conflicts, but one that is not free from controversies and challenges.

This article examines the legal problems associated with human shields. The author begins by discussing the absolute nature of the prohibition on their use and goes on to consider the precautions to be observed by the party being attacked. A violation of the ban on use of human shields by the attacked party is not an act of perfidy and does not release the attacker from his obligations. Because human shields are civilians, they are not legitimate objects of attack, even where they are acting in a voluntary capacity, as they are not taking direct part in hostilities. Among the attacker's obligations to take precautions, the proportionality principle applies in the classic way, even in the case of voluntary human shields.

Whatever the reason for their detention, people deprived of their liberty are, by definition, vulnerable. They have been taken out of their normal environment and are no longer allowed to manage their own lives.

Any international crime creates victims, often in a large number. Such victims may be asked to testify in court about what has happened: they become witnesses. This article examines the role that victims of international crimes currently play in international criminal proceedings and gives an account of the protection provided by international law to safeguard the rights of this especially vulnerable category of persons. Particular emphasis is placed on the jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, respectively, and on the Draft Rules of Procedure and Evidence which will be applicable to proceedings before the International Criminal Court.

Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 is a product of the mid-1970s. It reflects the then-prevailing Zeitgeist: the confrontational mentality of the Cold War; the defiance of the West by a suddenly assertive and temporarily united “Third World”; the tendencies on the part of an entrenched majority in international organizations and forums to show no tolerance for the dissenting voices of a large and influential minority; and the cynical sacrifice of good sense (and good law) on the altar of political expediency.

It is not enough simply to draw up a new international treaty—the States must also agree to respect it. A State demonstrates its willingness to respect new obligations first and foremost by ratifying or acceding to a treaty.

International humanitarian law governing the treatment of prisoners of war is designed to protect almost every aspect of human welfare, in order to minimise as far as possible the adverse effects of captivity. As noted by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.

Nous sommes heureux de publier de larges extraits d'un article paru dans la Revue suisse de medécine militaire (Bâle, décembre 1972), et que celle-ci nous autorise aimablement à reproduire. L'auteur, colonel sanitaire de làarmée suisse et médecin-chef d'une zone territoriale, y expose ses idées personnelles sur la médecine de catastrophe et le recyclage dans des établissements formant le personnel médical, les auxiliaires spécialisés et les secouristes sanitaires. Or, ce sujet est de nature, sans doute, à intéresser nos lecteurs. Car la Croix-Rouge se trouve confrontée aujourd'hui à des problèmes de secours en masse et, lors de conflits ou à la suite de désastres naturels, les problèmes de médecine et de chirurgie viennent au premier plan et Us concernent aussi Men les mèdecins que les infirmiers et secouristes, dont certains travaillent sous le signe de la croix rouge, du croissant rouge ou du lion-et-soleil rouge (Réd.).

Since the end of the Second World War, technological developments in armaments have produced increasingly sophisticated weapons. The most dangerous of these for air transports protected by the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 are remote controlled missiles equipped with homing devices, the operating raduis of which exceeds the visual range of the protective emblems recognized by these Conventions and carried by medical aircraft. The visual range of the emblem is frequently much less than 1,000 metres.

The Red Gross has been involved with refugees for many years, in fact ever since the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement began assisting the victims of wars, revolutions and other disturbances. All the Movement's institutions take part at some stage in dealing with refugees, deportees and persons displaced within their own countries, for instance by providing protection in the countries of origin at the time of exile, setting up reception facilities in transit or first asylum camps and supplying material and medical aid, or by carrying out tracing activities and organizing family reunifications, not forgetting the support lent to those engaged in the often interminable and humiliating procedure of applying for asylum.

In this article, the highly destructive potential of global nuclear arsenals is reviewed with respect to nuclear force structures, evolution of nuclear capabilities, modernization programmes and nuclear war planning and operations. Specific nuclear forces data is presented for the United States, the Russian Federation, Great Britain, France, China, Pakistan, India, Israel and North Korea. Hypothetical, escalatory scenarios for the use of nuclear weapons are presented, including the calculated distribution of radioactive fallout. At more than seventy years since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and twenty-five years since the end of the Cold War, international progress on nuclear arms control and disarmament has now nearly stalled, with the emphasis shifting to modernizing and maintaining large inventories of nuclear weapons indefinitely. This perpetuates a grave risk to human health, civil society and the environment.

Although long hidden from the public gaze of international humanitarian law, military entrepreneurialism has played a key role in the global organization of legitimate violence. By examining historical changes in the role and legal treatment of military entrepreneurs, the author sheds light on the contemporary “resurfacing” of privately organized violence in the form of private military companies, and its broader implications for international humanitarian law.

Although much has been said and written about the creation of the international criminal tribunals and their contribution to the development of international humanitarian law, there have been very few studies of the international prosecutor per se. In this article the author briefly surveys recent developments in the international criminal justice institutions, focusing particularly on the limits recently imposed on the discretionary powers of international prosecutors.