International Law: Powerful States and Movements of Resistance
International Conference, Paris, Friday 18th and Saturday 19th September 2009
Chaban-Delmas Building, Victor Hugo Conference Room
101 rue de l’Université, Paris 75007
Metro: Assemblé Nationale / Invalides
Organising Committee:
Nils Andersson, President of the ADIF
Daniel Lagot, President of the ADIF
Mireille Fanon-Mendès-France, Member of the IADL
Aoife Mc Mahon, Barrister-at-Law
The aim of this Conference is to lead an in-depth reflection on asymmetrical wars and in particular on the question of the definition of war crimes and the qualification of terrorism attributed by States to movements of resistance. The questions to be considered include the following (as a non-exhaustive list):
- Will recent violations of International Law with respect to torture, inhuman treatment and illegal detentions remain unpunished?
- With regard to the issues of bombings instigated by powerful States causing great civil loss and the forms of arms used by such States: is the regression on these subjects, as evident in the Statute of the International Criminal Court in comparison to the Additional Protocol I of 1977 to the Geneva Conventions, acceptable?
- The qualification of "terrorist" attributed to certain acts or movements of resistance opens the way to serious violations of the principles of the Geneva Conventions. Should the Geneva Conventions and Protocol I, which introduce the concepts of breaches and grave breaches/war crimes (the latter including attacks against civilians or causing great civil loss), be modified in this regard?
- Are violations of International Humanitarian Law inevitable on the part of movements of resistance in the framework of wars in which the military means are by no means equal and in which States fail to respect the minimum balance established by the Protocol I of 1977?
The Conference is to include not only specialists and personalities active in the field of human rights, but equally members of movements of resistance qualified as terrorist, as well as persons who, through their functions, were in direct contact with the problems resulting from asymmetrical warfare. It aims to listen to actors and the underlying reasons and logic behind actions taken, then to consider the problem of International Law faced with acts of powerful states on the one hand and movements of resistance on the other.
It is desired that all opinions would be freely voiced and debated. The ADIF for its part reaffirms its commitment to the International Humanitarian Law as defined by the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol; this body of Law should be respected by all and above all by States, and improved (as opposed to the process of regression it is now subjected to).