About the author(s):
Rogier is a researcher at the Netherlands Defence Academy (NLDA) and works at the Dutch National Prosecutor’s Office. He holds LL.M-degrees from Utrecht University and the University of Nottingham. Before taking up his current positions, he was an associate legal officer in Chambers at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and a legal adviser at the International Humanitarian Law Division of the Netherlands Red Cross.
Rogier is an adjunct-lecturer at the Hague University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches international humanitarian law, and he co-convenes the Hague Initiative for Law and Armed Conflict.
The ICRC has made available on its online Customary IHL database an update of State practice of 14 countries relating to armed conflicts and humanitarian issues such as the distinction between combatants and civilians, the use of certain weapons, the special status of medical personnel and infrastructure, the protection of internally displaced persons, the legal framework for internment and detention in armed conflict, recruitment of child soldiers, and serious violations of international humanitarian law (IHL) that amount to war crimes.
The following countries are included in this most recent update: Azerbaijan, Côte d’Ivoire, Fiji, France, Germany, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Pakistan, Rwanda, Uganda, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Yemen. Their new practice is marked in green throughout the Database.
The next updates of both national and international practice covering the period 2008-2010 are scheduled for April and May 2014.
Online French IHL course
On the ICRC’s Law&Policy webpage, a new eight module online course is provided. Lectures are accompanied by slideshows and discuss topics such as scope of application, means and methids of warfare, and IHL and IHRL.