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

Master in Politics and History from the University of Copenhagen 2000. Graduated in courses on International Law, a Master of International Security and Law from the University of Southern Denmark in 2015. Worked as a teacher and planner of education at the Danish Army Academy for Junior Officers from 2005 to 2015. Currently employed at the Royal Danish Defence College researching cyber security and hybrid threats. My areas of expertise as a teacher are international relations, international law, and the art of writing large assignments. Engaged in international working groups related to the topic of my research. With DIS since 2021.

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%

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.