Description: Session 1 will serve as an introduction to IHL and review the course content as well as course requirements and assessment. Overall, it will map students’ previous knowledge of IHL. Reading (you may do the reading after class on this occasion): None Assignments/deadlines: None

Description: Session 2 will explore origins and development of IHL, sources of IHL and characteristics of international law making. It will also focus on the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in historical background and early origins of IHL. Reading/video: • ICRC, The Story of an Idea (video), 2008. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9bsmnuJU-o • Nils, Melzer, International Humanitarian Law: A Comprehensive Introduction, ch.1 • Mary Ellen O'Connell, ‘Historical Development and Legal Basis’ in D. Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, 2021) ch. 2 • Pauline Charlotte Janssens and Jan Wouters, “Informal international law-making: A way around the deadlock of international humanitarian law?” (2022) 104.920-921 International Review of the Red Cross, 2111-2130 • Antoon De Baets, “The view of the past in international humanitarian law (1860–2020)” (2022) 104.920-921 International Review of the Red Cross, 1586-1620 • Amanda Alexander, ‘A Short History of International Humanitarian Law’ (2015) 26 European Journal of International Law 109. Assignments/deadlines: None

Description: Session 3 will cover such topics as the relationship between IHL and other branches of public international law, use of force and IHL, difference between jus ad bellum and jus in bello. Reading: • Nils Melzer, International Humanitarian Law: A Comprehensive Introduction, ch.2 • Marco Sassòli, Antoine Bouvier and Anne Quintin, How Does Law Protect in War?, ICRC, Geneva, 2011, Vol. I, Chapter 2: International humanitarian law as a branch of public international law, pp. 101–138. • Jann Kleffner, ‘Scope of Application of Humanitarian Law’ in D. Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, 2021) ch. 3. • Eyal Benvenisti, ‘Rethinking the Divide between Jus ad Bellum and Jus in Bello in Warfare Against Non-State Actors’ (2009) 34 Yale Journal of International Law 541. • Carsten Stahn, “‘Jus ad bellum’,‘jus in bello’...‘jus post bellum’?–Rethinking the Conception of the Law of Armed Force” (2006) 17.5 The European Journal of International Law 921-943. Assignments/deadlines: None

Description: Session 4 will discuss the basic concepts and principles of IHL such as humanity, necessity, distinction, and proportionality. These cornerstones help distinguish what is prohibited and permitted conduct during hostilities, who and what may be attacked from who and what must be spared. Reading: • Nils Melzer, International Humanitarian Law: A Comprehensive Introduction, ch.2 • Nobou Hayashi, ‘General Principles of Humanitarian Law’ in D. Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, 2021) ch. 4. • Rupert Ticehurst, “The Martens Clause and the laws of armed conflict” (1997) 37.317 International Review of the Red Cross 125-134. Assignments/deadlines: None

Description: Session 5 will deal with the classification between international and non-international armed conflict and the applicable law. Situations of occupation constitute an important component of the discussion and these will be introduced with a special focus on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. Reading: • International Court of Justice, ‘Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory’, Advisory Opinion of 9 July 2004: paras 70-78, 86-101, 114-126 • ICRC, Occupation and Other Forms of Administration of Foreign Territory, 2012. • ICRC, The Law of Armed Conflict Belligerent Occupation, 2002. • Knutt Dorman and Slyvian Vite, ‘Occupation’ in D. Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, 2021) ch. 9. • UNGA, Study: Legality of the Israeli Occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Including East Jerusalem, 2023 • Alexandra Hofer, ‘Wars of Wor(l)ds – clashing narratives and interpretations of I(H)L in the intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict’ in International Humanitarian Law and Justice: Historical and Sociological Perspectives (Routledge 2019) 160-172 Assignments/deadlines: ASSIGNMENT 1 – Research Essays

Description: Session 6 will zoom in on the distinction between combatants and non-combatants, status of persons accompanying the armed forces, civilian contractors, spies and mercenaries in general international law and IHL. It will also deal with the status of combatants in international and non-international armed conflict situations (i.e. prisoners of war: status, treatment and protection). Reading: • Nils Melzer, International Humanitarian Law: A Comprehensive Introduction, chs. 3 and 5. • Knut Ipsen, ‘Combatants and Non-Combatants’ in D. Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, 2021) ch. 5. • ICRC, Customary International Humanitarian Law, Distinction between Civilians and Combatants (Rules 1–6), ch .1 Assignments/deadlines: None

Description: Session 7 will cover the legal framework for the protection of civilians in situations of armed conflict as it developed historically. The discussion would cover such topic as military objectives, legitimate target, and collateral damage. Reading: • Nils Melzer, International Humanitarian Law: A Comprehensive Introduction, ch. 3. • Knutt Dorman, ‘Protection of Civilians’ in D. Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, 2021) ch. 8. • ICRC, Customary International Humanitarian Law, Distinction between Civilians and Combatants (Rules 1–6), ch .1, https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/customary-ihl/v1 Assignments/deadlines:

Mid-term break. No Class

Description: Session 8 will focus on other protected persons (wounded, sick and military personal and objects (the environment) under IHL. Reading: • Nils Melzer, International Humanitarian Law: A Comprehensive Introduction, ch. 3. • Marco Sassòli, Antoine Bouvier and Anne Quintin, How Does Law Protect in War?, ICRC, Geneva, 2011, Vol. I, Chapter 7: Protection of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, pp. 195–209. • ICRC, Health Care in Danger: The Responsibilities of Health-Care Personnel Working in Armed Conflicts and Other Emergencies, 2012 Assignments/deadlines: ASSIGNMENT II – Student Presentations

Description: Session 9 will cover means and methods of warfare otherwise known as the Hague law. It will also introduce a framework on how to conduct a proper legal review of new weapons and technologies of warfare such as autonomous weapons systems and cyber warfare. Reading: • Michael Schmitt (ed.), Tallinn Manual on the International Law Applicable to Cyber Warfare, Cambridge University Press, 2013, 215 pp. • Nils Melzer, Human Rights Implications of the Usage of Drones and Unmanned Robots in Warfare, European Parliament, Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union, Directorate B, Policy Department, Brussels, 2013. • Eric Talbot Jensen. "The Tallinn Manual 2.0: Highlights and Insights." Geo. J. Int'l L. 48 (2016): 735. • ICRC, ‘International Humanitarian Law and Cyber Operations During Armed Conflicts’ (Position Paper), Nov 2019, https://www.icrc.org/en/document/international-humanitarian-law-and-cyber-operations-during-armed-conflicts Assignments/deadlines: ASSIGNMENT II – Student Presentations

Description: Session 10 will deal with the implementation and enforcement of IHL. It will discuss State responsibility for violations under IHL, grave breaches regime under IHL, compliance with and (non)judicial enforcement of IHL. Reading: • Nils Melzer, International Humanitarian Law: A Comprehensive Introduction, ch. 7. • George Andreopoulos, Chapter 53: ‘Genocide, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity’, in Mangai Natarjan (ed), International and Transnational Crime and Justice, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press (2019) pp. 321-326 • ICRC, Domestic Implementation of IHL, Manual, 2015. • Roger O’Keefe, International Criminal Law, Chapter 1: ‘The International Rules on National Jurisdiction’, Oxford, Oxford University Press (2017). Assignments/deadlines: ASSIGNMENT II – Student Presentations

Description: Session 11 will cover the following topics: the historical development of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and other ad hoc tribunals, the work and mandate of the ICC, issues of jurisdiction and individual responsibility. Reading: • Anders Henriksen, International Law, 2nd ed., Chapter 15: ‘International Criminal Law’, Oxford, Oxford Univerisity Press (2017). • Eric Wyler and León Castellanos-Jankiewicz, ‘State Responsibility and International Crimes’, in W. Schabas and N. Bernaz (eds) Routledge Handbook of International Criminal Law, Routledge, 2011, pp. 385-405. Assignments/deadlines: ASSIGNMENT II – Student Presentations

Description: Session 12 will explore the interplay between international human rights law and IHL and their contextually contingent lex specialis and lex generalis nature. Reading: • Jann Kleffner, ‘Human Rights in Armed Conflicts’ in D. Fleck (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law (4th edn, 2021) ch. 14 • Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, “Humanitarian law, human rights law and the bifurcation of armed conflict” (2015) 64.2 International & Comparative Law Quarterly 293-325. • F. Hampson, ‘The Relationship between International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law from the Perspective of a Human Rights Treaty Body’ (2008) 90 International Review of the Red Cross 549. • A. Orakhelashvili, ‘The Interaction between Human Rights and Humanitarian Law: Fragmentation, Conflict, Parallelism, or Convergence’ (2008) 19 European Journal of International Law 161. Assignments/deadlines: ASSIGNMENT II – Student Presentations

Description: Student presentations. Reading: None Assignments/deadlines: ASSIGNMENT II – Student Presentations

Description: The final exam. It will also serve as a review session. Reading: None Assignments/deadlines: