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Confronting Total War: A “Global” Humanitarian Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2017

Jacques Freymond
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Extract

All humanitarian action takes place in a political context, and has, therefore, a political content. This means that all “humanitarian” organizations, such as those operating under the sig of the Red Cross, have a duty to define a humanitarian policy which will be valid in the long term, based on a thorough analysis of the political context, the main characteristics of an epoch, the political societies of our time, and the world political system. Such a humanitarian policy entails in turn the development of a humanitarian strategy which is distinct from the tactical moves imposed by varying crises. Neglect of this work of reflection leads to contradiction and confusion and, worse still, the degradation of humanitarian action to the level of a political instrument.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 67 , Issue 4 , October 1973 , pp. 672 - 692
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1973

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References

1 Cf. Freymond, Jacques, How the Small Countries Can Contribute to Peace , in Small States in International Relations (Schou, A. & Brundtland, A. O., eds., Nobel Symposium 17 (1971)Google Scholar).

2 6 UST 3316; TIAS 3354; 75 UNTS 135; 47 AJIL STOP. 119 (1958).

3 UN General Assembly Resolution 3032 (XXVII), Dec. 18, 1972, adopted by 102 votes to 0, with 25 abstentions.

4 5 Int. R. of the Red Cross 417 (1965).

5 Id., at 418.

6 Unofficial translation in id., at 527.

7 274 UNTS 339. “The Democratic Republic of Viet-Nam declares that prisoners of war prosecuted for and convicted of war crimes or crimes against humanity, in accordance with the principles established by the Nuremberg Tribunal, will not enjoy the benefits of the provisions of the present Convention as provided in article 85.”

And See Pilloud, , Les Themes mix Conventions de Geneve de 1949 , 39 Revue Internationale de la Croix-Rouge 409 (1957)Google Scholar.

8 His letter, dated Nov. 25, 1966, was as clear as it was concise:

This is to advise you that you are welcome at any time to visit any US facilities in Vietnam in order to carry out the responsibilities and duties of the ICRC.

My staff has been instructed to cooperate fully with you in this regard. It is suggested that you make necessary arrangements for any visits by contacting . . . at your convenience.

You may be assured of our complete support. (ICRC Archives).

9 The Minister for National Security in particular.

10 As was the case when the Con Son “tiger cage” scandal broke in July 1970, the ICRC delegates having been authorized to visit only a very small minority of “prisoners of war.”

11 A responsibility laid upon it by Art. 12 of the Third Convention.

12 Protocol to the Agreement on Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam concerning the Return of Captured Military Personnel and Foreign Civilians and Captured and Detained Vietnamese Civilian Personnel. Signed at Paris Jan. 27, 1973. TIAS 7542; 67 AJIL 407 (1973); 12 ILM 52 (1973).

13 Le droit des gens et la personne humaine (lecture of May 15, 1952) in Huber, Max, La Pensee et L’action de la Croix-Rouge 290–91 (1954)Google Scholar.

14 Jacques Moreillon, L E Comitè International de la Croix-Rouge et les detenus politiques (now being printed).

15 Quoted by Moreuxon, supra note 14.

16 Id.

17 ICRC, Report on the Work of the Conference, Aug. 1971, at 80.

18 Id.

19 Id., at 81. This proposal was reconsidered and indeed supplemented, during the discussion of Art. 48 and the ICRG draft Protocol. Cf. ICRC, Report on the Work of the Conference, Second Session, Geneva, July 1972, Vol. I, at 151 (hereinafter cited as 1972 Conference Report).

20 Id., at 145.

21 Id., at 147.

22 Id., at 127.

23 38 Revue Internationale de la Choix-Rouge 487 (1956).

24 In the preamble of Convention No. IV of The Hague of 1907 concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land:

Until a more complete code of the laws of war has been issued, the High Contracting Parties deem it expedient to declare that, in cases not included in the Regulations adopted by them, the inhabitants and the belligerents remain under the protection and the rule of the principles of the law of nations, as they result from the usages established among civilized peoples, from the laws of humanity, and from the dictates of public conscience.

38 Stat. 2277; TS 539; 1 Bevans 631.

25 1972 Conference Report, Vol. II, at 57. Proposal CE/COM/III/C 33. It will be noted that the experts of Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Kuwait, Libya, Syria, and Mali endorsed this proposal.

26 Id., Vol. I, at 129.

27 Art. 23(a) of the Regulations annexed to Convention No. IV of The Hague of 1907, See supra note 24.

28 1972 Conference Report, Vol. I, at 133. We have been told that this article has been modified but we were unable to get hold of the last draft.

29 Id., Vol. II, at 64. Proposal CE/COM/HI/C 72.

30 Id., at 58.

31 See Resolution No. 1, adopted by the Council of Delegates in Mexico on Oct. 8, 1971, on the “Role of National Societies in the Development of Humanitarian Law,” 11 Int. R. of the Red Cross 675 (1971).