The UN Secretary-General has identified enhancing humanitarian access as one of the five core challenges to the protection of civilians in armed conflict. In recent years considerable attention has been devoted to identifying and mapping a wide range of practical constraints with respect to humanitarian operations and attempting to find ways of overcoming—or at least mitigating—their […]

Dapo Akande has recently published a piece on the International Legal Framework Regulating the Use of Armed Drones. The article, published in the October 2016 issue of the International and Comparative Law Quarterly and available here, was co-authored with Christof Heyns – who was UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions – and 2 […]

In many, if not most, armed conflicts, far more deaths occur as a result of the humanitarian crisis created by the conflict rather than from hostilities. However, in many recent conflicts humanitarian actors have faced serious challenges in delivering much-needed relief supplies and services to civilians in need. The United Nations Secretary-General, in his recent […]

On Friday 7 October, Dapo Akande spoke to UK Navy lawyers at the 2016 Royal Navy Legal Services Annual Conference. The conference was also addressed by Iain MacLeod, the Legal Adviser of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Vice Admiral James Crawford III, the Judge Advocate General of the US Navy; Theo Rycroft, Legal Adviser at […]

“Promoting Compliance with International Humanitarian Law”, Chatham House briefing by Emanula-Chiara Gillard (in the framework of the International Law Programme) Summary It is not the absence of law that is causing casualties, destruction and unprecedented displacement in armed conflict, but flagrant breaches of the most fundamental rules of international humanitarian law. Ways must be found […]

Ruben Reike contributed a chapter, titled “Conflict Prevention and R2P“, to the Oxford Handbook on the Responsibility to Protect, edited by Alex J. Bellamy and Tim Dunne. The chapter examines how the agenda of prevention of armed conflict relates to the principle of the responsibility to protect (R2P). While R2P was originally assumed to be […]

Liability, Immunity, and the Benefits of War: New Perspectives on the Moral Status of Civilians   7th Annual Conference of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict 1-2 September 2016 –  European University Institute, Florence   The European University Institute is very pleased to be hosting the 7th Annual Conference of the Oxford Institute […]

The Individualisation of War Project explores the tensions arising from the increased prominence of the individual in the theory and practice of armed conflict. One manifestation of this process of individualisation are the endeavours to enhance accountability for violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL).  These include the establishment of […]

Emanuela-Chiara Gillard contributes chapter “Protection of Civilians in the Conduct of Hostilities” in the new Routledge Handbook of the Law of Armed Conflict. The chapter presents the rules regulating the conduct of hostilities that protect civilian populations. It outlines key principles and then touches upon key challenges in their application in practice in recent conflicts. […]

United Nations peacekeeping has undergone radical transformation in the new millennium. Where it once was limited in scope and based firmly on consent of all parties, contemporary operations are now charged with penalizing spoilers of peace and protecting civilians from peril. Despite its more aggressive posture, practitioners and academics continue to affirm the vital importance of […]