Sunday, December 2, 2007

Wilmshurst & Breau: Perspectives on the Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law

Elizabeth Wilmshurst (Chatham House, London) & Susan Breau (Univ. of Surrey - Law) have published Perspectives on the ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law (Cambridge Univ. Press 2007). Here's the abstract:
The International Committee of the Red Cross's Customary International Humanitarian Law by Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (Cambridge University Press, 2005) contains a unique collection of evidence of the practice of States and non-State actors in the field of international humanitarian law, together with the authors' assessment of that practice and their compilation of rules of customary law based on that assessment. The Study invites comment on its compilation of rules. Perspectives on the ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law results from a year-long examination of the Study by a group of military lawyers, academics and practitioners, all with experience in international humanitarian law. The book discusses the Study, its methodology and its rules and provides a critical analysis of them. It adds its own contribution to scholarship on the interpretation and application of international humanitarian law.
Contents include:
  • Daniel Bethlehem, The methodological framework of the study
  • Iain Scobbie, The approach to customary international law in the study
  • Françoise Hampson, Other areas of customary law in relation to the study
  • Jelena Pejic, Status of conflict
  • Anthony Rogers, Combatant status
  • Michael Schmitt, Targeting
  • Susan C. Breau, Protected persons and objects
  • Karen Hulme, Environment
  • William J. Fenrick, Methods of warfare
  • Steven Haines, Weapons of warfare
  • Françoise Hampson, Fundamental guarantees
  • Agnieszka Jachec-Neale, Prisoner of war status
  • Ryszard Piotrowicz, Displacement and displaced persons
  • David Turns, Implementation and compliance
  • Charles Garraway, War crimes
  • Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Conclusions