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The International Committee of the Red Widget? The Diversity Debate and International Humanitarian Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 July 2014

René Provost
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Abstract

This article asserts there has been a lack of attention to the impact of cultural diversity within the field of international humanitarian law. Discussions surrounding culture in international humanitarian law have nearly always avoided the central issue of cultural particularism. This has been so in relation to the debate surrounding the emblem, in general surveys of humanitarian law, and in discussions of the laws of war in distinct legal and cultural traditions. The emblems debate, in particular, signals the elusiveness of rigid universality within international humanitarian law. Five elements are suggested to explain the resistance of humanitarian law to contagion by the cultural relativism debate in human rights: the nature of human rights, the distinct normative frameworks of human rights and humanitarian law, the unified conventional basis of humanitarian law, the very broad participation in the humanitarian regime, and the unique role of the International Committee of the Red Cross. While these reasons might explain the fact that the relativism debate in human rights did not readily transfer to humanitarian law, they offer no substantive basis for immunity for humanitarian law to the challenges posed by cultural diversity. Ultimately, the article proposes a legal pluralist approach that recognizes the role of actors in the cultural process of norm-creation. Given the continued violation of the laws of war, the author suggests a need to open the door to cultural diversity in order to generate greater compliance. Without cultural legitimacy, there is a danger that humanitarian law aspires to self-defeating universalism.

Type
Research Article
Information
Israel Law Review , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , Summer 2007 , pp. 614 - 647
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and The Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem 2007

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Footnotes

*

Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, McGill University and Director, Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism.

Comments can be sent to rene.provost@mcgill.ca. I greatly benefited from the comments of participants in the International Conference on International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights in Jerusalem, held on May 21-22, 2006. The paper was much improved thanks to the research assistance of Emilia Ordolis, BCL LLB candidate and Sébastien Jodoin, BCL LLB 2005, Faculty of Law, McGill University. The writing of this article was made possible due to funding provided by the Dobson Fund of the Faculty of Law, McGill University. This is part of a wider project on the impact of cultural diversity on international humanitarian law, supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fond québécois de recherche sur la société et la culture.

References

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2 Bugnion, id. at 10.

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4 See Bugnion, supra note 1, at 11. See also Hutchinson, supra note 3, at 138-147.

5 It could be noted that the ICRC itself briefly triggered a certain plurality of emblems, having adopted a green cross to be used in its work benefiting prisoners of war: Bugnion, François, le comité international de la croix-rouge et la protection des victimes de la guerre 40 (2000)Google Scholar.

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7 Statement of the ICRC delegate at the 1949 Geneva Conference, quoted in Rosenne, id. at 29. This admittedly revisionist reading of the reasons for choosing this emblem is of course not free from doubt, as the Swiss flag itself is commonly taken to have been a religious reference: Kopp, Peter, “Croix fédérale” in Dictionnaire historique de la Suisse, http://www.hls-dhs-dss.ch (last visited June 26, 2007)Google Scholar; Rosenne, supra note 6, at 18; Commentary to the 1949 First Geneva Convention 303 (Pictet, Jean ed., 1952)Google Scholar; McCormack, Timothy L. H., What's in an Emblem? Humanitarian Assistance under Any Other Banner Would be as Comforting, 1 Melb. J. Int'l L. 175, 177 (2000)Google Scholar; Bugnion, François, Unity of the Sign, 193 Int'l Rev. Red Cross 172, 178 (1977)Google Scholar.

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12 Pictet, supra note 7 at 300.

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14 Id. at 26-27; Rosenne, supra note 6, at 28-34. Further proposed emblems included one to use a red swastika in India and Sri Lanka and another to use a red star in Zimbabwe. In yet another variation, some states including the USSR, Kazakhstan, and Eritrea at various times used a combination of the red cross and the crescent: Bugnion, supra note 1, at 19-20.

15 This is explored in detail by Rosenne, supra note 6.

16 Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem, Preamble para. 5, (Dec. 8, 2005).

17 Most directly, this is meant to allow for the use of the red shield of David within the crystal, and perhaps some other emblems, if it can be shown that they have been in effective use. The attempt is once again to close the list of possible protective emblems and prevent further proliferation, in a manner equally as unprincipled as the earlier attempts in the 1929 and 1949 Geneva Conventions.

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19 Indeed, the ICRC offers much more considerable evidence of the dangers of the unregulated and unjustified use of the emblems leading to the dilution of their protective effectiveness.

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33 It can be argued that in some respects, humanitarian law provides more detailed rules, hence leaving less room for divergent interpretations thereof. The reasons to discard such an argument are discussed under sub-section (D), infra.

34 Provost, René, International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law 241–76 (2002)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

35 Id. at 121-238.

36 The Declaration is reprinted in Human Rights Sourcebook 646–57 (Blaustein, Albert, Clark, Roger, & Sigler, Jay eds., 1987)Google Scholar.

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39 The reading of humanitarian law as providing protection for individual interests by means essentially other than the granting of rights is defended in greater detail in Provost, supra note 34, at 27-34.

40 See Hague Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (annex to the Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, art. 1-2, Oct. 18, 1907, 36 Stat. 2277; Geneva Convention (I) relative to the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 31, 6 U.S.T. 3114; Geneva Convention (II) relative to the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 85, 6 U.S.T. 3217; Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 135, 6 U.S.T. 3316; Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, arts. 77(2) and 4(3)(d), Dec. 12, 1977, 1125 U.N.T.S. 3 [hereinafter Protocol I].

41 Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, Aug. 12, 1949, 75 U.N.T.S. 287, 6 U.S.T. 3516 [hereinafter the Fourth Geneva Convention].

42 Prosecutor v. Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1-A, Appeal Judgment, (July 15, 1999), at paras. 165-168; The Prosecutor v. Delalic, Mucic, Delic and Landzo Case No. IT-96-21-A, Appeal Judgment, 21 (Feb. 20, 2001), at para. 73 [hereinafter the Čelebići case]. See Provost, supra note 34, at 34-39.

43 This is developed at greater length in Provost, id. at 39-42.

44 Prosecutor v. Tadic, Case No. IT-94-1-AR72, Decision on the Defense Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, 49-52 (Oct. 2, 1995), at paras. 87-93; The Celebici case, supra note 42, at paras. 153-81; The Prosecutor v. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment, (Sept. 2, 1998), at paras. 611-17.

45 See Meron, Theodor, The Humanization of Humanitarian Law, 94 Am. J. Int'l L. 239 (2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar. For example, Meron suggests that the consideration of rape as torture or inhuman treatment and thus as a grave breach under a. 147 of the 1949 Geneva Convention (IV) can be understood as evidence of this shift; Meron, id. at 240. See also Meron, Theodor, Rape as a Crime under International Humanitarian Law, 87 Am. J. Int'l L. 424 (1993)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Aldrich, George, Individuals as Subjects of International Humanitarian Law, in Theory of International Law at the Threshold of the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Krzystof Skubiszewski (Makarczyk, Jerzy ed., 1996)Google Scholar. Furthermore, Meron discusses the growing convergence of humanitarian law and human rights law: Meron, The Humanization of Humanitarian Law, id. at 266. See also Hampson, Françoise J., Using International Human Rights Machinery to Enforce the International Law of Armed Conflict, 31 Revue de Droit Pénal et de Droit de la Guerre 119 (1992)Google Scholar.

46 G.A. Res. 60/147, UN Doc. A/RES/60/147 (Dec. 16, 2005).

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49 On the broad phenomenon of the fragmentation of international law generally, see the report recently issued under the chairmanship of Martti Koskenniemi: International Law Commission, UN Doc. A/CN.4/L.682 (2006).

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57 Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General, UN Doc. ST/LEG/Ser.E.

58 There has been a great deal of discussion concerning the large number of reservations to CEDAW, many of which are substantive. Arguments have been made that the convention is “culturally and religiously hegemonistic,” and there has been significant debate regarding the reservations made by Islamic countries. See Morgan-Foster, Jason, A New Perspective on the Universality Debate: Reverse Moderate Relativism in the Islamic Context, 10 ILSA J. Int'l & Comp. L. 35, 42 (2003–2004)Google Scholar; Cook, Rebecca J., Reservations to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, 30 Va. J. Int'l L. 643 (1990)Google Scholar; Venkatraman, Bharathi Anandhi, Islamic States and the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women: Are the Shari'a and the Convention Compatible?, 44 Am. U. L. Rev. 1949 (1995)Google Scholar.

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64 Bugnion, id. at 131-32; Forsythe, supra note 20, at 289.

65 Hutchinson asks a similar question in the introduction to his book, underlining the need to investigate the history of the Red Cross—to ask not “what the Red Cross did” but “what the Red Cross was”: Hutchinson, supra note 3, at 2. See also Forsythe, David, Who Guards the Guardians? Third Parties and the Law of Armed Conflict, 70 Am. J. Int'l L. 41 (1976)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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67 This is examined in details by Forsythe, supra note 20, at 183-92, who concludes that there were even episodes of direct Swiss interference into the affairs of the Red Cross. For a perspective more closely aligned with the ICRC, see Bugnion, supra note 5, at 1156-75.

68 See Wembou & Fall, supra note 23, at 272.

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70 ICC RPE Rule 73(4)-(6); The Prosecutor v. Simic, Case No. IT-95-9-PT, Decision on the Prosecution Motion Under Rule 73 for a Ruling Concerning the Testimony of a Witness (July 27, 1999).

71 One could also mention the 1977 ENMOD Convention, although its characterization as an international humanitarian law treaty is more controversial.

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73 The Banning of Anti-Personnel Landmines: the Legal Contribution of the International Committee of the Red Cross (Maresca, Louis & Maslen, Stuart eds., 2000)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

74 Forsythe reports it in 2005 at 4-5% of the 50% non-Swiss group, or 2-2.5% of the total staff: Forsythe, supra note 20 at 232.

75 Cover, supra note 60, at 98-99.

76 This conclusion of course raises a series of further complex questions touching on the manner in which international humanitarian law should take account of variable cultures and the resulting impact on the framework of that legal regime. These and other issues are addressed in further essays forming part of a general project on the impact of cultural diversity on humanitarian law.