Course Syllabus
International Humanitarian Law and Armed Conflict. |
Semester & Location: |
SPRING 2025 - DIS Copenhagen |
Type & Credits: |
Core course - 3 credits |
Study Tours: |
Belgrade, Serbia & Srebrenica, Bosnia. Western Denmark |
Major Disciplines: |
International Relations, Political Science, Pre-Law, Legal Studies |
Expectations of the students: |
Students must expect the course to focus on international law, introducing the basic legal methods and key sources of law, international humanitarian law, human rights law, and international criminal law, which are essential to fully benefiting from the course. Students are expected to combine their legal analysis with perspectives on international relations seen from states, IOs, and NGOs. |
Faculty Members: |
Dorthe Bach Nyemann & Steen Kjærgaard Current students use Canvas Inbox to contact us |
Time & Place: |
Tuesdays. 2.50 - 5.45 PM. N7 -D10 |
Course Description
The recent armed conflicts in Ukraine, sparked by the Russian aggression in February 2022, and the renewed fighting in Gaza, have reignited the ongoing debate on the role of international law in promoting humanity and curbing brutality on the battlefield. This course is designed to equip students with the necessary tools to understand and critically analyze these conflicts, particularly when states and non-state actors are engaged in existential struggles.
This course provides students with the tools to analyze the international humanitarian regulation of armed conflict within the context of international law. The course aims to enable students to understand the legal challenges of current and future armed conflicts and to critically analyze and evaluate concrete cases using legal, societal, and political points of view. Furthermore, the course seeks to broaden the understanding of actors and protections in contemporary conflict to critically assess potentials and challenges for enhancing compliance towards humanity - potentially beyond a purely legalistic approach. This is achieved by actively applying knowledge gained from readings, academic presentations, and debates in class.
The course is structured into three sections, each focusing on a different aspect of international humanitarian law and its application in armed conflicts.
In the first section, we introduce the academic field of international law and provide the student with an overview of international law related to armed conflict (jus as Bellum) and international humanitarian law (jus in Bello), e.g. the sources of law, conflict classification, the basic legal principles and a broad overview of the essential rules regulating armed conflict. The particular focus of the core course week is the regulation of weapons in armed conflict, with a special emphasis on landmines (APL).
In section two, we prepare for the long study tour. We provide a deep dive into International Criminal Law and International Tribunals' functions to promote post-conflict justice. The scope case is the Balkan wars, 1992-1999. The aim is to provide an empirical backdrop for subsequent analysis of how to promote justice and societal coexistence after widespread and systematic grave breaches of fundamental humanitarian norms, i.e., the IHL rules in the conflict in Ukraine.
In section three, we examine current challenges, eg. technology and protection of civilians, for IHL based on observations from the conflict in Ukraine and Gaza in a geopolitical analytical framework
Learning Objectives
Through selected readings, class discussions, study tours, and various assignments, the objectives of this course are for the students to:
- Understand the historical development and nature of International Humanitarian Law, including the humanitarian movement in Europe since 1859.
- Understand and apply the general principles and rules of International Humanitarian Law.
- Apply the rules of International Humanitarian Law to concrete cases in both international and non-international armed conflicts, with a focus on the current armed conflict in Ukraine.
- Understand the interplay between humanitarian law, human rights law, and international criminal law.
- Analyze and discuss the challenges related to regulating the usage of modern technology in armed conflicts, e.g. artificial intelligence, autonomous weapons, unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), and cybering of the reality and practical concerns affecting the implementation of obligations under international law;
- Identify and discuss the main issues related to enhancing compliance with International Humanitarian Law in contemporary conflicts, including the promotion of societal cohesion through transitional justice means.
- Be able to critically apply gained knowledge to the debate on the role, challenges and possibilities of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as a top-tier protective regime for individuals and objects during armed conflicts.
Faculty
Dorthe Bach Nyemann
Steen Kjærgaard
Master of Arts in International Security from the University of Leicester (UK) 2018. Army officer. Military Academy, Bachelor 1996. Graduated Joint Command and Staff College (MA) 2010. Currently stationed at the Royal Danish Defense College as a military analyst. Served in the Danish Defense Intelligence. Lecturer at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, San Remo, Italy (2010-2016). He has been deployed to conflict zones and with an IHL capacity-building program in Indonesia with the Norwegian Center for Human Rights (2013-2016). Whilst senior advisor to the government of Kosovo, I was a partaker in promoting IHL to the Kosovo Security Forces (2022-2023). With DIS since 2018.
Assignments
The student must produce two smaller assignments and a final essay during the course. Highly important for the success of this course, the student must engage actively and participate with a positive attitude. This includes preparation for class and active participation during class discussions based on facts, law, analysis, and reflection; however, most notably, students must get involved when we meet representatives from different organisations working with international humanitarian law.
Please have a look at the assignment tab for instructional details.
Weight:
Activity | Weight | Remark |
Assignments during course | 40% |
1200 words paper
Video Podcast 7 minutes |
Final Essay | 40% | 2500 words excl. bibliography |
Participation in class | 20% |
Academic Regulations
Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There, you will find regulations on:
The use of AI writing tools
- This course is restricted to brainstorming and making research plans or outlines. The primary content of assignments should reflect your knowledge, creativity, and critical thinking. As with all sources of information and ideas, ensure that all AI contributions are correctly cited. The ICRC community provides excellent sources and insights on the most relevant questions on IHL (listed below). These interpretations represent the best and most unbiased knowledge of IHL we have. In most cases, using these sources will provide answers of an outstanding quality you can not expect using AI tools.
Excellent sources from the ICRC and The Geneva Academy
- ICRC Fact Sheet - what_is_IHL.pdf
- International Humanitarian Law database https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en
- How does the law (IHL) protect in armed conflict - ICRC Casebook
- Collection of relevant treaties (ICRC): International Humanitarian Law - Treaties and Documents
Readings for class
- Emily Crawford and Alison Pert, International Humanitarian Law, 2. nd. Cambridge University Press, 2021 [textbook].
- Find specific readings for each class under sections.
Note: Some of the readings might be subject to change during the course, but students will receive any new readings in due time to prepare for class.
Field Studies
Field Study 1: Visit the Danish Institute of Human Rights / Dignity 'The Danish Institute against Torture
Guest Lecturers
Dr Zlatko Jovanovic, expert on Balkan history from the NGO DEO, Democracies in Europe.
Dr Iben Yde; Regulating artificial intelligence in weaponry. The Royal Danish Defence College.
Others may also join us, and we will meet a range of speakers at our study tours.
Approach to Teaching
This course will combine lectures and a discussion-based course using case studies and group work. The teaching will facilitate a reflective learning process and critical and constructive feedback to sharpen the students' analytical skills and academic methodology. Faculty strive to apply modern didactics and learning methods, such as the flipped classroom philosophy.
Reading reflection techniques will be applied.
Expectations of the Students
The course is partly discussion-based and includes case studies, so a high degree of student participation, preparation, and engagement is required. Throughout the course, you will also have to develop and practice your critical thinking by analysing texts, concepts, and specific cases to understand the complexity of the field of international law.
Download the ICRC IHL app. We will use this throughout the course as the best source for an overview of IHL.
Study Tours
Study tours are an integral part of the core course as we take the classroom on the road and see how the theory presented in the classroom is translated into practice in the field.
You will travel with your classmates and DIS faculty/staff on a study tour to Western Jutland and Belgrade in Serbia. On the long study tour, we will also visit Srebrenica, Bosnia, where a genocide took place in July 1995.
In the short study tour and throughout the core course week, we will explore the impact of antipersonnel landmines on civilians during and after an armed conflict. We will learn about the general regulation of means and methods of warfare and dive into the specifics of landmines. We will visit the Western coast of Jutland to explore the role of landmines during the Second World War, the clean-up over decades, and how demining occurs around the globe today, including in Ukraine.
During the long study tour, we will travel to Belgrade, Serbia. The overarching theme for this tour is to explore how grave beaches of IHL during an armed conflict continue to have societal consequences decades later. Time does not seem to heal all wounds. On the contrary, how we commemorate historical events can deepen mistrust among citizens across an entire region. We will visit different NGOs that try to address breaches of International Law in the past in search of a better future. One of the key discussions on the tour will be how we can advance transitional justice post-conflict and why it is not always achieved in spite of strenuous efforts. We will travel to Srebrenica, Bosnia, to see how the genocide that took place here in 1995 is commemorated.
Expectations for study tours:
- Participate in all activities.
- Engage in discussions, ask questions, and contribute to achieving the learning objectives.
- Respect the destination, the speakers, the DIS staff, and classmates.
- Represent yourself, your home university, and DIS in a positive light.
While on a program study tour, DIS will provide hostel/hotel accommodation and transportation to/from the destination(s), approx. two meals per day, and entrances, guides, and visits relevant to your study area or destination. You will receive a more detailed itinerary before departure.
Travel policies:
You are required to travel with your group to the destination. If you have to deviate from the group travel plans, you need approval from the program director and the study tours office.
Course Summary:
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