Events in recent years have increased interest in the issue of how international humanitarian law is applied in today's context of violent confrontation. In a new paper, the ICRC provides answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about international humanitarian law and terrorism.

What does IHL say about terrorism? - Does IHL specifically mention terrorism? - Is the "war on terrorism" an armed conflict? - What law applies to persons detained in the fight against terrorism? - What is the ICRC's role with respect to persons detained in the fight against terrorism?

Extract from ICRC publication "International humanitarian law: answers to your questions"

ICRC strongly condemns acts of violence which are indiscriminate and spread terror among the civilian population. It has voiced its condemnation of such acts on many occasions, including after the attacks in the USA on 11 September 2001.

The article examines and compares two recent judgments which provide some of the most valuable examples of the difficulties surrounding the application of international humanitarian law to the phenomenon of terrorism: the Hamdan judgment of the Supreme Court of the United States, and the Targeted Killings judgment of the Supreme Court of Israel. Both judgments deal with the thresholds of applicability of the law of armed conflict, as well as with the concept of unlawful combatancy and the relationship between human rights law and humanitarian law.

Terrorism-oriented legislation, which initially covered only acts affecting civilians, has gradually expanded to cover some acts of terrorism against military personnel and installations. This contribution attempts to assess the repercussions of this evolution on the status and the protection of armed forces engaged in the so-called ‘‘war on terrorism’’ by examining the existing dynamic between these regulations and international humanitarian law.

The hurdles for terrorists to get a nuclear weapon are extremely high. The probability of terrorist use of such a weapon is therefore extremely low. In contrast to the nuclear weapon case there are in principle no insurmountable obstacles to the acquisition and use of radiological weapons by a well-organized terrorist group, even though such an action remains high-tech and thus very difficult.

In the deprivation of liberty by agents acting outside the sovereign territory of their State, the prevention of violations of fundamental norms and values is particularly important.

International human rights law abhors a legal black hole. It applies wherever a State exercises its jurisdiction, not only in peacetime but also during armed conflict, as a compliment to humanitarian law. The deprivation of liberty is subject to certain conditions, and even initially lawful detention becomes arbitrary and contrary to law if it is not subject to periodic review.

This article explores how doubt over prisoner-of-war status may arise and how issues relating to the determination of status should be resolved according to the Third Geneva Convention. In this context, a State's obligations in cases of "doubtful" status are examined, as are the minimal requirements of a "competent tribunal".

This article examines the international humanitarian law applicable to acts of terror. All acts of terror committed during international or non-international armed conflicts are prohibited without exception. In addition, the author argues that State responses to terrorist acts are also regulated by international humanitarian law when carried out during an armed conflict.

This article relates the history of the rules and principles adopted to limit violence, and of those prohibiting recourse to war. The author explains that the applicability of international humanitarian law does not depend on a war's causes, even in the case of a war of aggression, and that no discrimination is admissible regarding the law's application.

In an interview for the ICRC website, the organization's President, Jakob Kellenberger, talks about the recent developments in US policy and legislation towards those detained in the fight against terrorism.

Article published in "the Fletcher Forum of World Affairs", vol. 27:2, Summer/Fall 2003

Extract from "Humanitäres Völkerrecht", No 4/2002, a review published by the German Red Cross and the "Institute For International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict" in Bochum.

Extract from "Humanitäres Völkerrecht", No 4/2002, a review published by the German Red Cross and the "Institute For International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict" in Bochum. The author is a judge at the Iran-US Claims Tribunal.

Speech delivered by Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC, at Georgetown University, Washington.

Committee of legal advisers on public international law (CADHI), 28th meeting Lausanne, 13-14 September 2004 - Intervention by Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC

ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger, in his address to the Commission, highlighted the tragedy of missing persons and spoke of the interrelationship between bodies of law designed to protect human dignity. Geneva, 17 March 2004.

"International Action to Prevent and Combat Terrorism" - Workshop on the Protection of Human Rights While Countering Terrorism, Copenhagen, 15-16 March 2004 - Presentation given by Gabor Rona, legal adviser at the ICRC’s Legal Division.

Jakob Kellenberger, ICRC president, says the organization condemns indiscriminate terrorist attacks unreservedly, but insists that the response to them must remain within the framework of the law. Article published in the Financial Times (UK) on 19 May 2004 and reproduced here with the FT's kind permission.

Article by Gabor Rona, legal adviser at the ICRC’s legal division, as published in the Financial Times on 1 March 2004

Official working document of the 30th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, Geneva, 26 to 30 November 2007.

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