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To respect and ensure respect for IHL: Interview with representatives of the French Ministry for the Armed Forces and Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2022

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Abstract

On 29 June 2021, the Review talked to representatives of the French Ministry for the Armed Forces and Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs about France's involvement in Mali and the Sahel region.* From the Ministry for the Armed Forces, the Review spoke to Claire Legras, Director of Legal Affairs, Camille Faure, Deputy Director of Legal Affairs, and Philippe Lejeune, Head of the Operational Legal Unit of the Armed Forces Staff. From the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the interviewees were François Alabrune, Director of Legal Affairs, and Sandrine Barbier, Deputy Director of Legal Affairs.

Type
Perspectives
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 103 , Issue 918: The Sahel , December 2021 , pp. 843 - 858
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the ICRC

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Footnotes

*

This interview was conducted by Ghislaine Doucet, Bruno Demeyere and Julie Boulmier.

References

1 UNSC Res. 2100, 25 April 2013, available at: https://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?OpenAgent&DS=S/RES/2100(2013)&Lang=E.

2 MINUSMA is the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. For further information, see the MINUSMA website, available at: https://minusma.unmissions.org.

3 UNSC Res. 2085, 20 December 2012, available at: https://daccess-ods.un.org/access.nsf/Get?OpenAgent&DS=S/RES/2085(2012)&Lang=E.

4 Agreement between the Governments of France and Mali in the Form of an Exchange of Letters Defining the Status of the Serval Force, signed in Bamako on 7 March 2013 and in Koulouba on 8 March 2013 (Serval SOFA), available at: www.legifrance.gouv.fr/jorf/id/JORFTEXT000027376103.

5 EUTM Mali is the European Union Training Mission in Mali. See the EUTM Mali fact sheet, available at: https://eutmmali.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/20220113_Fact-Sheet-EUTM-sans-elections-22FEB_ENG.pdf (earlier version available in French at: https://eeas.europa.eu/archives/docs/csdp/missions-and-operations/eutm-mali/pdf/factsheet_eutm_mali_fr.pdf).

6 The Pau Summit took place in January 2020. See “G5 Sahel: Conférence de presse des Chefs d'État à l'issue du Sommet de Pau”, Elysee.fr, 13 January 2020, available at: www.elysee.fr/emmanuel-macron/2020/01/13/sommet-de-pau-declaration-conjointe-des-chefs-detat.

7 The participation of operational partners under French command is based on two grounds. With regard to jus ad bellum, each partner in the operation was invited by the president of Mali to intervene on its territory in order to fight organized armed groups carrying out terrorist-type activities. With regard to jus in bello, the detachments of the operational partners integrated by France into the Takuba Task Force have the mission of conducting operations in Mali to support the Malian armed forces in their fight against organized armed groups carrying out terrorist activities in Africa. The status of the military detachment of each operational partner is identical. It is governed by Articles 1 to 11 of the Serval SOFA, above note 4, and extended to those partners that have expressly agreed to it.

8 See 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, “Resolution 1: Strengthening International Humanitarian Law Protecting Persons Deprived of their Liberty Geneva”, 8–10 December 2015, available at: http://rcrcconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/32IC-AR-Persons-deprived-of-liberty_EN.pdf.

9 French Constitution, 4 October 1958, Art. 66-1. Law No. 81-908 of 9 October 1981 abolishing the death penalty was incorporated into the French Constitution in 2007 by Constitutional Law No. 2007-239 of 23 February 2007.

10 See European Convention on Human Rights, 4 November 1950, Art. 2, available at: www.echr.coe.int/pages/home.aspx?p=basictexts&c=.

11 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, 10 December 1984 (entered into force 26 June 1987), available at: www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-against-torture-and-other-cruel-inhuman-or-degrading.

12 See Landais, Claire and Bass, Léa, “Reconciling the Rules of International Humanitarian Law with the Rules of European Human Rights Law”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 97, No. 900, 2015CrossRefGoogle Scholar, available at: https://international-review.icrc.org/articles/reconciling-rules-international-humanitarian-law-rules-european-human-rights-law.

13 ICJ, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Judgment, 27 June 1986, ICJ Reports 1986, available at: www.icj-cij.org/en/case/70/judgments.

14 ICJ, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment, 26 February 2007, ICJ Reports 2007, available at: www.icj-cij.org/public/files/case-related/91/091-20070226-JUD-01-00-EN.pdf.

15 Common Article 1 is available at: https://tinyurl.com/2p94kvsu.

16 Additional Protocols I and II are available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/470 and https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/INTRO/475.

17 Serval SOFA, above note 4, Art. 10.

18 See, for example, IHL in Action, “Mali, IHL Training for Organised Armed Groups and Malian Armed Forces”, available at: https://ihl-in-action.icrc.org/case-study/mali-ihl-training-organised-armed-groups-and-malian-armed-forces.

19 See, for example, International Institute of Humanitarian Law, “175th International Military Course on LOAC (French)”, 23 May 2018, available at: https://iihl.org/event/cours-militaire-international-sur-le-dih/.

20 CIVIC is the Center for Civilians in Conflict. For further information, see the CIVIC website, available at: https://civiliansinconflict.org.

21 For further information, see the INTM Group website, available at: https://intm.com/en/about-us/.

22 See Second Protocol to the Hague Convention of 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, 26 March 1999 (entered into force 9 March 2004), available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/INTRO/590.

23 See: Roger O'Keefe et al., Protection of Cultural Property: Military Manual, UNESCO, Paris, 2016, available at: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000246633. Secretariat of the 1954 Hague Convention and Its Two (1954 and 1999) Protocols, List of Cultural Property under Enhanced Protection, available at: www.unesco.org/culture/1954convention/pdf/Enhanced-Protection-List-2017_EN.pdf.

24 See AP II, Art. 16, available at: https://tinyurl.com/39988jrh.

25 See France, Code Pénal, Livre IV bis, “Des crimes et des délits de guerre”, Chap. I, “Des différents crimes et délits de guerre (Articles 461-1 à 461-31)”, available at: https://tinyurl.com/ywa8wh9t.

26 France, Code de Justice Militaire, last updated 1 January 2021, available at:: www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/id/LEGITEXT000006071360/.

27 Ibid., Art. L 121-1: “Outside the territory of the Republic and subject to international commitments, the Paris courts specializing in military matters hear offences of any kind committed by members of the armed forces or persons attached to the army by virtue of an authorization” (Review's translation).

28 See the French Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 40, which states: “If the public prosecutor considers that the facts brought to his attention in application of the provisions of Article 40 constitute an offence committed by a person whose identity and domicile are known and for whom no legal provision prevents the initiation of public action, he shall decide whether it is appropriate to: 1. Initiate proceedings. 2. Implement an alternative procedure to prosecution in application of the provisions of article 41-1, 41-1-2 or 41-2. 3. Close the case without further action if the particular circumstances related to the commission of the facts justify such action” (Review's translation).

29 See Article 82 of Additional Protocol I, concerning legal advisers in the armed forces. See also Henckaerts, Jean-Marie and Doswald-Beck, Louise (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar, Rule 141, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docindex/v1_rul_rule141.

30 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the Specialized Agencies, 21 November 1947 (entered into force 2 December 1948), available at: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Treaties/1946/12/19461214%2010-17%20PM/Ch_III_1p.pdf.

31 General Henri Bentégeat, former Chief of Staff of the French armed forces, “Droit et excellence de l'armée française”, presentation given at “Le droit et les armées: Glaive, bouclier ou entrave”, colloquium on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Legal Affairs Department of the Ministry of the Armed Forces, Paris, 6 and 7 June 2019.

32 This question was added in February 2022 to reflect current events.

33 Under the terms of the 4th paragraph of the preamble and Article 12 of the Serval SOFA, above note 4, its stipulations are applicable “for the duration of [the] deployment [of the French detachment] on the territory of the Republic of Mali”, and are effective “until the end of the missions of the French detachment and its complete and final return to the territory of the French Republic” (Review's translation).

34 Review's translation.