DETENTION OPERATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY CONFLICTS: FOUR CHALLENGES FOR THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS AND OTHER EXISTING LAW

摘要

In September 2010, President Jakob Kellenberger of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) summarized the conclusions of a two-year, internal ICRC study of changes that have occurred in the nature of armed conflict since the signing of the Geneva Conventions in 1949, and he also suggested how international humanitarian law (IHL) should respond to those changes. In a previous address marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, Kellenberger had observed that in the place of traditional conflicts between state-sponsored armies on a battlefield, modern conflicts frequently involve nonstate actors, such as terrorist groups - a development that has blurred the line between civilians and combatants, and created challenges for IHL. The ICRC study concluded that IHL generally provides a suitable legal framework for regulating armed conflict. Kellenberger explained, "What is required in most cases - to improve the situation of persons affected by armed conflict - is greater compliance with the existing legal framework, not the adoption of new rules." Nonetheless, Kellenberger said that the ICRC study found numerous "gaps or weaknesses in the existing legal framework, which requires further development or clarification." One area that he specifically identified for future legal development was detention of persons in noninternational armed conflict, where he identified "an urgent need to explore new legal ways for dealing exhaustively" with the subject.