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Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement: A few comments on the contribution of international humanitarian law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2010

Jean-Philippe Lavoyer
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Extract

The very intense international debate that has taken place in recent years on the subject of internally displaced persons has recently undergone a major development — the drafting of the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (hereinafter referred to as the “Guiding Principles”). The distinguishing feature of these Guiding Principles is that they incorporate elements of three branches of public international law in a single document: international humanitarian law, human rights law, and refugee law. This combination calls for special comment.

Type
50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Human rights and international humanitarian law
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 38 , Special Issue 324: 1948—1998 Human rights and international humanitarian law , September 1998 , pp. 467 - 480
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1998

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References

1 As at 1 July 1998.

2 Additional Protocol I, Art. 48.

3 The term “military objectives” is defined in Article 52 of Additional Protocol I.

4 Additional Protocol I, Art. 51, and Protocol II, Art. 13.

5 Additional Protocol I, Arts 53–56. and Protocol II, Arts 14–16.

6 Additional Protocol I, Art. 57.

7 According to the International Court of Justice, Article 3 common to the Geneva Conventions contains rules that reflect elementary considerations of humanity and is applicable in all armed conflicts (Nicaragua v. USA, Judgment, 27 June 1986, para. 218).

8 Additional Protocol II, Arts 4–6.

9 Additional Protocol II, Art. 17.

10 Fourth Geneva Convention, Art. 49.

11 Fourth Geneva Convention, Art. 45.

12 The ICRC's Advisory Service on International Humanitarian Law provides States with technical assistance and supports their efforts to implement humanitarian law at the national level.

13 “The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for the present Convention [this Protocol] in all circumstances.”

14 The Geneva Conventions confer upon the ICRC the right to visit prisoners of war and civilian internees (Arts 126 and 143 of the Third and Fourth Conventions, respectively). Furthermore, the Conventions and the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement grant the ICRC a right of humanitarian initiative.

15 UN doc. E/CN.4/1996/52/Add.2 of 5 December 1995.

16 UN doc. E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2 of 11 February 1998.

17 Resolution 1998/50 of 17 April 1998. See below, pp. 545–556.

18 Text reproduced in IRRC, No. 310, January-February 1996, pp. 119 ff.