The Humanization of International Law THE HAGUE ACADEMY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW MONOGRAPHS Volume 3 The titles in this series are listed at the end of this volume. THE HAGUE ACADEMY OF INTERNATIONAL LAW The Humanization of International Law by Theodor Meron MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS LEIDEN • BOSTON A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. Printed on acid-free paper. isbn hardback: 90 04 15060 9 paperback: 90 04 15193 1 © Copyright 2006 The Hague Academy of International Law. Published by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, an imprint of Koninklijke Brill NV. http://www.brill.nl All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill Academic Publishers provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. Printed and bound in The Netherlands. For Monique Table of Contents Acknowledgements xiii Introduction xv Chapter 1: The Humanization of the Law of War 1 A. Introduction and General Principles 1 B. From an Inter-State to an Individual Rights Perspective: Reciprocity and Reprisals 9 C. The Martens Clause, Principles of Humanity, and Dictates of Public Conscience 16 I. The Origins of the Clause 17 II. The Modernization of the Clause 19 III. The Clause and General Principles 21 IV. The Clause and Public Conscience 22 V. The Clause and the Nuclear Weapons Opinion 25 VI. The Current Significance of the Clause 27 D. Applicability of International Humanitarian Law 29 I. The Thresholds of Applicability of Humanitarian Law 29 II. Personal Applicability of Humanitarian Law Treaties: Redefining “Protected Persons” 33 E. Protection of Victims 38 I. Individual Rights and Duties and the Inalienability of Rights 38 II. Repatriation of Prisoners of War and Personal Autonomy 41 III. Convergence of Protection under Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law 45 IV. Application of Humanitarian Law by Human Rights Organs 50 V. Application of Human Rights Treaties in Humanitarian Law Contexts 55 VI. Minimum Humanitarian Standards: Fundamental Standards of Humanity 58 F. Means and Methods of Warfare and Protection of Combatants 61 I. The Principle of Proportionality 61 viii Table of Contents II. Weapons of a Nature to Cause Unnecessary Suffering or to be Inherently Indiscriminate 69 a) Weapons of a Nature to Cause Unnecessary Suffering 69 b) Weapons that are Inherently Indiscriminate 73 c) The Regulation of Weapons Causing Unnecessary Suffering and of Indiscriminate Weapons 77 d) Anti-Personnel Land Mines 80 e) Laser Weapons 84 H. Limitations to Laws’ Effectiveness 85 Chapter 2: Criminalization of Violations of International Humanitarian Law 91 A. Introduction 91 B. Crimes against Humanity 95 C. The Yugoslavia and Rwanda Statutes’ Provisions on Internal Atrocities and the Tension between the Nullum Crimen Principle and Customary Law 100 D. Criminality of Violations of Humanitarian Law 110 E. Universality of Jurisdiction 118 F. Non-Grave Breaches and Universal Jurisdiction 123 G. War Crimes and Universal Jurisdiction 129 H. War Crimes and Internal Conflicts 132 I. The Challenges Facing the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia 139 J. The International Criminal Court 148 K. Due Process of Law 157 L. Judicial Independence and Impartiality in International Criminal Tribunals 163 I. The Setting 163 a) The Role of Judicial Independence 164 b) Ensuring Judicial Independence 165 II. International Courts 166 a) Selection of Judges 166 b) The Role of the ICTY President 169 c) When Judges Should Recuse Themselves 172 d) The Courts and the Public 176 M. The Contribution Made by International Criminal Tribunals to the Effectiveness of International Law 177 N. War Crimes Law Comes of Age 181 Chapter 3: The Law of Treaties 187 A. Normative and Multilateral Treaties 187 B. Interpretation of Treaties 193 C. Jus Cogens and Invalidity of Treaties 201 D. Termination of Treaties 208 Table of Contents ix I. Withdrawal and Denunciation 208 II. Material Breach 209 E. Succession to Treaties 211 F. Reservations to Multilateral Treaties 218 I. From the Unanimity Rule to the “Object and Purpose” Test 218 II. Appropriateness of the Vienna Regime on Reservations for Human Rights Treaties 224 III. Admissibility of Reservations to Normative Treaties 227 a) Reservations to Customary Law 228 b) Reservations to Peremptory Norms and to Non-Derogable Provisions 232 c) Severability 234 IV. Reservations to Remedies and Procedural Provisions, and Competence of Human Rights Bodies to Assess Admissibility of Reservations 241 Chapter 4: Humanization of State Responsibility: From Bilateralism to Community Concerns 247 A. Origin of State Responsibility 247 B. Circumstances Precluding Wrongfulness:Distress, Necessity, Consent 251 C. Differentiation of Norms 256 I. Erga omnes Obligations 256 II. International Crimes 265 D. Rights and Remedies 270 I. Departure from State-Centric Enforcement 270 II. Injured States 272 III. Legal Standing 275 IV. Choice of Remedies 281 E. Countermeasures 287 I. The Right to Take Countermeasures 288 II. Limitations on Countermeasures 293 III. Countermeasures and Settlement of Disputes 300 F. Diplomatic Protection 301 Chapter 5: Subjects of International Law 307 A. The State 307 I. Recognition of States 307 II. Admission to International Organizations 310 III. Recognition of Governments 313 B. Non-State Actors 314 I. The Individual as Subject of International Law 314 II. Individual Access to International Organs and Institutions 319 a) Trade Organizations Dispute Settlement Mechanisms 319 i) The World Trade Organization (WTO) 319 ii) North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) 321