Michael N. Schmitt – författare

In 2021, the International Committee of the Red Cross released its Commentary on the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (POWs). The new document updated the 1960 "Pictet Commentary." As a result, the attention of the law-of-armed-conflict community was refocused on the designation and treatment of POWs. The Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare at West Point launched a project to further examine the subject. The result is this book. Sadly, world events have made that examination especially timely.Unlike the ICRC's updated Commentary, this book is not meant to be a comprehensive treatment of the international law relating to POWs. Rather, it is a collection of capita selecta identified by the contributors as meriting further examination - either because they are unsettled, inadequately addressed in the literature, or operationally problematic. The work is in three parts. Part I examines qualification for POW status. Discussion then moves in Part II to the treatment to which POWs are entitled. Part III concludes with a consideration of the historical relevance of, and perspectives on, the international law governing POWs.As the drafters of the Third Geneva Convention emphasized over seventy years ago, the aim of the law is "to mitigate as far as possible, the inevitable rigours [of a war] and to alleviate the condition of prisoners of war." It is through that lens that scholars and practitioners should consider the rules governing POWs, and with which they should approach this book.

The applicability of international humanitarian law requires the existence of an armed conflict that is either international or non-international in character. Accordingly, the concept of armed conflict (as well as the related notion of war) and its temporal and material limits are the focus of the reprinted essays which open this volume. Subsequent articles address highly contentious issues regarding the relationship between the jus in bello and international humanitarian law on the one hand, and the jus ad bellum and international human rights law on the other, as well as the closely related principle of the equal application of international humanitarian law. In the light of contemporary conflicts, essays consider the legal position of States that have chosen not to become a party to an ongoing international armed conflict (law of neutrality) as well as the question of whether and to what extent international humanitarian law provides rules governing counter-terrorism operations, that is, the 'global war on terror'. Taken together, these essays provide a comprehensive analytical survey of the scope and applicability of international humanitarian law.

This volume is the first of two addressing the legal regime governing the use of force during armed conflicts. Traditionally labeled 'Hague Law', today the norms it examines are commonly referred to as 'conduct of hostilities rules'. At the heart of this body of law is the principle of distinction, which requires that civilians and civilian objects be distinguished from combatants and military objectives during military operations. It is the purest expression of the foundational balance between humanitarian considerations and military necessity that has underpinned international humanitarian law since its inception. The essays selected consider the theoretical and practical difficulties of maintaining the balance in the face of evolving means and methods of warfare and competing perspectives as to how it is best achieved. Also addressed is the law governing warfare at sea and in the air. Essays focusing on the former examine early norms and analyze their continuing relevance to today's maritime operations whilst those exploring the latter inject much needed clarity into the subject, an essential task in light of the centrality of aerial warfare in modern combat operations.

The essays selected for this second volume on the conduct of hostilities examine discrete topics of international humanitarian law that are particularly relevant to 21st century warfare. It commences with an examination of the adequacy of traditional weapons law in the face of modern weaponry that could not have been conceived of at the time the norms were originally fashioned. Humanitarian law's protection of certain persons and objects is also addressed, especially with regard to loss of protection for civilians who participate in hostilities and to the special protections enjoyed by vulnerable groups and individuals. The essays not only set forth competing contemporary perspectives, but also illustrate how earlier generations of humanitarian lawyers struggled with many of the same issues. The essays equally illustrate humanitarian law's adaptability to changing sensitivities, as in the case of protection of the environment during armed conflict. The final essay analyzes perfidy, a violation of the law that weaker parties in asymmetrical conflicts are increasingly adopting as an operational tactic.

Detention and occupation are two challenging aspects of international humanitarian law in 21st century warfare. The essays selected for this volume examine the historical foundations of these issues, as well as the contemporary practices surrounding them. Detention law was prominently codified in the 1949 Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, but has been criticized as inadequate in the face of 'new wars' involving non-State actors such as insurgents and terrorists. These essays not only explore historically problematic detention issues like repatriation and the protecting powers regime, but also question whether the extant law suffices to ensure a proper balance between humanitarian considerations and a detaining State's security concerns. Occupation law was originally designed for temporary occupations that maintained the occupied State's institutions pending return of full authority, but has been tested by recent occupations which are often prolonged and which sometimes seek to 'transform' occupied States previously governed by undemocratic and abusive regimes. The essays demonstrate that these are not novel issues and consider how they were handled in the past. They also assess various perspectives as to the purposes and limits of occupation, especially in the face of modern imperatives such as human rights.

The essays selected for this volume explore the entire range of issues related to the question of how to implement and enforce international humanitarian law. Measures of self-help that used to play a key role in past international armed conflicts, especially reprisals, have increasingly been outlawed, and thus the enforcement of international humanitarian law has now to be achieved by other means, including criminal proceedings against those who have seriously (or gravely) committed war crimes. Accordingly, the concept of grave breaches, the universality principle and international criminal law are dealt with extensively in this collection. Finally, the volume includes an examination of the practice of 'lawfare' (an abuse of international humanitarian law for military or political purposes) which has proven increasingly effective in contemporary armed conflict.

Tallinn Manual 2.0 expands on the highly influential first edition by extending its coverage of the international law governing cyber operations to peacetime legal regimes. The product of a three-year follow-on project by a new group of twenty renowned international law experts, it addresses such topics as sovereignty, state responsibility, human rights, and the law of air, space, and the sea. Tallinn Manual 2.0 identifies 154 'black letter' rules governing cyber operations and provides extensive commentary on each rule. Although Tallinn Manual 2.0 represents the views of the experts in their personal capacity, the project benefitted from the unofficial input of many states and over fifty peer reviewers.

This volume is the first of two addressing the legal regime governing the use of force during armed conflicts. Traditionally labeled 'Hague Law', today the norms it examines are commonly referred to as 'conduct of hostilities rules'. At the heart of this body of law is the principle of distinction, which requires that civilians and civilian objects be distinguished from combatants and military objectives during military operations. It is the purest expression of the foundational balance between humanitarian considerations and military necessity that has underpinned international humanitarian law since its inception. The essays selected consider the theoretical and practical difficulties of maintaining the balance in the face of evolving means and methods of warfare and competing perspectives as to how it is best achieved. Also addressed is the law governing warfare at sea and in the air. Essays focusing on the former examine early norms and analyze their continuing relevance to today's maritime operations whilst those exploring the latter inject much needed clarity into the subject, an essential task in light of the centrality of aerial warfare in modern combat operations.

The essays selected for this second volume on the conduct of hostilities examine discrete topics of international humanitarian law that are particularly relevant to 21st century warfare. It commences with an examination of the adequacy of traditional weapons law in the face of modern weaponry that could not have been conceived of at the time the norms were originally fashioned. Humanitarian law's protection of certain persons and objects is also addressed, especially with regard to loss of protection for civilians who participate in hostilities and to the special protections enjoyed by vulnerable groups and individuals. The essays not only set forth competing contemporary perspectives, but also illustrate how earlier generations of humanitarian lawyers struggled with many of the same issues. The essays equally illustrate humanitarian law's adaptability to changing sensitivities, as in the case of protection of the environment during armed conflict. The final essay analyzes perfidy, a violation of the law that weaker parties in asymmetrical conflicts are increasingly adopting as an operational tactic.

Detention and occupation are two challenging aspects of international humanitarian law in 21st century warfare. The essays selected for this volume examine the historical foundations of these issues, as well as the contemporary practices surrounding them. Detention law was prominently codified in the 1949 Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, but has been criticized as inadequate in the face of 'new wars' involving non-State actors such as insurgents and terrorists. These essays not only explore historically problematic detention issues like repatriation and the protecting powers regime, but also question whether the extant law suffices to ensure a proper balance between humanitarian considerations and a detaining State's security concerns. Occupation law was originally designed for temporary occupations that maintained the occupied State's institutions pending return of full authority, but has been tested by recent occupations which are often prolonged and which sometimes seek to 'transform' occupied States previously governed by undemocratic and abusive regimes. The essays demonstrate that these are not novel issues and consider how they were handled in the past. They also assess various perspectives as to the purposes and limits of occupation, especially in the face of modern imperatives such as human rights.

The essays selected for this volume explore the entire range of issues related to the question of how to implement and enforce international humanitarian law. Measures of self-help that used to play a key role in past international armed conflicts, especially reprisals, have increasingly been outlawed, and thus the enforcement of international humanitarian law has now to be achieved by other means, including criminal proceedings against those who have seriously (or gravely) committed war crimes. Accordingly, the concept of grave breaches, the universality principle and international criminal law are dealt with extensively in this collection. Finally, the volume includes an examination of the practice of 'lawfare' (an abuse of international humanitarian law for military or political purposes) which has proven increasingly effective in contemporary armed conflict.

Tallinn Manual 2.0 expands on the highly influential first edition by extending its coverage of the international law governing cyber operations to peacetime legal regimes. The product of a three-year follow-on project by a new group of twenty renowned international law experts, it addresses such topics as sovereignty, state responsibility, human rights, and the law of air, space, and the sea. Tallinn Manual 2.0 identifies 154 'black letter' rules governing cyber operations and provides extensive commentary on each rule. Although Tallinn Manual 2.0 represents the views of the experts in their personal capacity, the project benefitted from the unofficial input of many states and over fifty peer reviewers.

This collection of essays by Professor Michael N. Schmitt of Durham University draws together those of his articles published over the past two decades that have explored particular fault lines in the law of armed conflict. As such, they examine the complex interplay between warfare and law, seeking to identify where the law and warfare appear to diverge, and where such apparent divergence can be accommodated through contextual interpretation of the law. Each essay examines a particular issue in either the jus ad bellum (the law governing resort to force) or jus in bello (international humanitarian law) that has proven contentious in terms of applying extant norms to the evolving face of armed conflict. Among the topics addressed are counter-terrorism, cyber operations, asymmetrical warfare, assassination, environmental warfare and the participation of civilians in hostilities.

The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law is the world's only annual publication devoted to the study of the laws governing armed conflict. It provides a truly international forum for high-quality, peer-reviewed academic articles focusing on this crucial branch of international law. Distinguished by contemporary relevance, the Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law bridges the gap between theory and practice and serves as a useful reference tool for scholars, practitioners, military personnel, civil servants, diplomats, human rights workers and students.

This collection of essays by Professor Michael N. Schmitt of Durham University draws together those of his articles published over the past two decades that have explored particular fault lines in the law of armed conflict. As such, they examine the complex interplay between warfare and law, seeking to identify where the law and warfare appear to diverge, and where such apparent divergence can be accommodated through contextual interpretation of the law. Each essay examines a particular issue in either the jus ad bellum (the law governing resort to force) or jus in bello (international humanitarian law) that has proven contentious in terms of applying extant norms to the evolving face of armed conflict. Among the topics addressed are counter-terrorism, cyber operations, asymmetrical warfare, assassination, environmental warfare and the participation of civilians in hostilities.

The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law is the world's only annual publication devoted to the study of the laws governing armed conflict.

This book offers a multidisciplinary treatment of targeting. It is intended for use by the military, government legal advisers and academics.  The book is suitable for use in both military training and educational programs and in Bachelor and Master degree level courses on such topics as War Studies and Strategic Studies.The book first explores the context of targeting, its evolution and the current targeting process and characteristics. An overview of the legal and ethical constraints on targeting as an operational process follows. It concludes by surveying contemporary issues in targeting such as the potential advent of autonomous weapon systems, ‘non-kinetic’ targeting, targeting in multinational military operations and leadership decapitation in counter-terrorism operations.The deep practical experience and academic background of the contributors ensures comprehensive treatment of current targeting and use of force issues.Paul Ducheine is Professor for Cyber Operations and Cyber Security, Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands; and Professor of Law of Military Cyber Operations and Cyber Security at the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Michael Schmitt is Charles H. Stockton Professor & Director, Stockton Center for the Study of International Law, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, and Professor of Public International Law, University of Exeter, UK. Frans Osinga is Chair of the War Studies Department, Netherlands Defence Academy, Breda, The Netherlands, and Professor of Military Operational Art and Sciences.