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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 May 2022
In an effort towards better explaining the authority of international humanitarian law (IHL) on the African continent, the Regional Delegation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Pretoria recently examined the relationship between African traditional customs and modern-day principles of IHL. Evidence of a clear correlation would illustrate a respect for the law of war on the African continent. The outcome of the research conducted by the ICRC was the creation of the “Tool on African Traditions and the Preservation of Humanity during War”, which illustrates eleven African traditions and the related principles of contemporary IHL. The Tool is a living project, which will continue to be updated, and which is presented in various formats that can be used for both pedagogical and operational outreach.
1 See ICRC, ICRC Annual Report 2020: Facts and Figures, available at: https://library.icrc.org/library/docs/DOC/WEB_020.pdf (all internet references were accessed in January 2022).
2 See the ICRC report on IHL and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts: ICRC, International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges of Contemporary Armed Conflicts: Recommitting to Protection in Armed Conflict on the 70th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, 22 November 2019, available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/icrc-report-ihl-and-challenges-contemporary-armed-conflicts.
3 ICRC, “African Values in War: A Tool on Traditional Customs and IHL”, available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/african-customs-tool-traditional-customs-and-ihl. The Tool is a living project, and the ongoing research aims to continue to extend to include additional traditions from all over the African continent.
4 Mubiala, Mutoy, “International Humanitarian Law in the African Context”, in Juma, Monica Kathina and Suhrke, Astri (eds), Eroding Local Capacity: International Humanitarian Action in Africa, Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, Uppsala, 2002, p. 48Google Scholar.
5 To illustrate, all of the twelve countries that signed the 1864 Geneva Convention at the conclusion of its negotiation were European. See ICRC, Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field. Geneva, 22 August 1864, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/120. At the negotiation of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, only Egypt and Ethiopia participated from the African continent. See Final Record of the Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1949, Vol. 1, 1949, pp. 158–70. For a more in-depth discussion, see Waschefort, Gus, “Africa and International Humanitarian Law: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 98, No. 902, 2016CrossRefGoogle Scholar. This article does not explore these criticisms in greater detail, but the reader can find more on the subject in writings by Mutoy Mubiala and Gus Waschefort.
6 G. Waschefort, ibid., pp. 602–3.
7 See, in particular, Diallo, Yollande, “Humanitarian Law and Traditional African Law”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 16, No. 179, 1976Google Scholar; Emmanuel G. Bello, African Customary Humanitarian Law, Oyez Publishing, London, 1980; Bello, Emmanuel G., “A Proposal for the Dissemination of International Humanitarian Law in Africa Pursuant to the 1977 Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949”, Revue de Droit Pénal Militaire et de Droit de la Guerre, Vol. 23, Nos 1–4, 1984Google Scholar; Wodie, Vangah Francis, “Africa and Humanitarian Law”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 26, No. 254, 1986CrossRefGoogle Scholar; M. Mubiala, above note 4; G. Waschefort, above note 5.
8 Sarah Mabeza, “Christof as Pan-African Humanitarian Lawyer”, in Frans Viljoen, Charles Fombad, Dire Tladi, Ann Skelton and Magnus Killander (eds), A Life Interrupted: Essays in Honour of the Lives and Legacies of Christof Heyns, Pretoria University Press, Pretoria, 2022, p. 398.
9 G. Waschefort, above note 5, pp. 602–17.
10 See, for example, ICRC, “Sudan, Release of Child Soldiers”, 19 April 2022, available at: https://ihl-in-action.icrc.org/case-study/sudan-release-child-soldiers. For further examples from Africa, see ICRC, “Africa”, available at: https://ihl-in-action.icrc.org/country/africa.
11 M. Mubiala, above note 4, p. 37.
12 Interview with Tamalin Bolus, Legal Advisor, Pretoria Delegation, ICRC, 12 August 2021, Pretoria, South Africa.
13 Y. Diallo, above note 7.
14 Musa Yusuf Hussein, Mohammed Abdilaani Riraash and Ibrahim Haji M. Wa'ais, Spared from the Spear. Traditional Somali Behaviour in Warfare, ICRC, Nairobi, 1998.
15 ICRC, Under the Protection of the Palm, Wars of Dignity in the Pacific, Suva, Fiji, 2009, pp. 4–5, available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/wars-of-dignity-pacific-2009.pdf.
16 See, in particular, ICRC, “Experts' Workshop on IHL and Islamic Law in Contemporary Armed Conflicts”, 23 March 2021, available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/experts-workshop-ihl-islamic-law; and ICRC, “Reducing Suffering During Armed Conflict: The Interface Between Buddhism and IHL”, 25 February 2019, available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/document/reducing-suffering-during-conflict-interface-between-buddhism-and-international.
17 M. Mubiala, above note 4, pp. 37–9; G. Waschefort, above note 5, p. 597.
18 Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 287 (entered into force 21 October 1950); Protocol Additional (II) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 609, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978); Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005 (ICRC Customary Law Study), available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1.
19 Protocol Additional (I) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 3, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978).
20 Geneva Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 31 (entered into force 21 October 1950); Geneva Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 85 (entered into force 21 October 1950).
21 Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 135 (entered into force 21 October 1950).
22 However, many of the principles of IHL mentioned in the Tool also apply in non-international armed conflicts through customary IHL.
23 M. Y. Hussein, M. A. Riraash and I. H. M. Wa'ais, above note 14, pp. 43–5. It is not the aim of this article to address this in detail.
24 Karolina Aksamitowska, “Traditional Approaches to the Law of Armed Conflict: Disseminating IHL Through the Receptor Approach”, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1, 2020.
25 M. Y. Hussein, M. A. Riraash and I. H. M. Wa'ais, above note 14, pp. 9–10.
26 K. Aksamitowska, above note 24, p. 16.
27 K. Aksamitowska, above note 24, p. 29; Moussa Touré and Giuliano Vascotto, “Sources de droit et normes socioculturelles au Mali, creusets pour la protection des civils”, Geneva Call, June 2019, available at: https://www.genevacall.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Rapport-Mali-3.pdf.
28 ICRC, The Roots of Restraint in War, 12 June 2020, p. 9, available at: https://www.icrc.org/en/publication/4352-roots-restraint-war. This was included in the major findings of the ICRC study which, based on two years of research by a group of distinguished scholars, sets out to identify the various sources of influence on the behaviour of those bearing arms in different types of armed forces and armed groups.
29 M. Mubiala, above note 4, p. 58.
30 Y. Diallo, above note 7, p. 63.