Islam and International Humanitarian Law

The Initiative

The Islam-International Humanitarian Law initiative (III) is an effort to direct global attention to an issue now gathering energy and focus: bridging the gap between Islamic and humanitarian law in pursuit of a comprehensive and modern set of international laws of armed conflict. Issues of human shielding (‘perfidy’ under Article 147 of the Geneva Convention IV), deliberate and direct attacks against civilians, forced displacement, mistreatment of persons detained in an armed conflict, as well as lack of political will by belligerents to respect and prevent violations of IHL are increasingly common areas of concern. The Islam-IHL initiative examines from multiple perspectives the ongoing role of Islam and Islamic leaders in international humanitarian law and the potential of that contribution for contending with these and other new tactics and forms of warfare and the changing nature of international conflicts.

Purpose

The Islam and International Humanitarian Law initiative is designed to develop new strategies based in cross-cultural collaborative analyses to address new challenges in conflict situations—increased targeting of civilians, evolving tactics of warfare, disempowered states in conflict settings, lack of standardized approaches to IHL. This initiative is committed to building an international network of scholars, legal analysts, policy makers, and humanitarian practitioners to enhance a global dialogue on humanitarian law in armed conflicts in the Muslim world.

4.17.2009 Workshop, Syracuse University: The goal of the initiative’s first workshop is to begin identifying the most pressing issues at the intersection of Islamic jurisprudence and humanitarian law and to consider how their shared concerns may prompt creativity in addressing present gaps in IHL—notably, the lack of standards for dealing with the rise of irregular armies or the inability of the law to accommodate asymmetric forms of attacks by non-state entities against sovereign states.

III Network and Related Initiatives: INSCT is developing partnerships on different aspects of this topic with the United Institute for Peace’s (USIP) Rule of Law Center of Innovation, which develops strategies for policymakers and practitioners to promote the rule of law in fragile and post-conflict societies; and Harvard University’s International Humanitarian Law Research Initiative (IHLRI), a central resource for the reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian law based at the Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research (HPCR) at the Harvard School of Public Health.

For additional background and research materials that might be helpful to III participants or interested members of the community, please see Research, and Resources.

Please contact Corri Zoli if you are interested in this initiative.