The Human Rights Research and Education Centre (HRREC) and the Canadian Red Cross are pleased to partner in presenting this online event to launch the registration period for the Summer School in International Humanitarian Law 2023:

International Law & the conduct of hostilities in Ukraine

As the armed conflict in Ukraine enters a second year, with the prospect of enduring for several more, what rules of international law govern the conduct of hostilities? As importantly, how effective are these rules in practice?

Despite the deep historical roots of International Humanitarian Law, often referred to alternatively as the law of armed conflict, each succeeding generation must interpret and apply the law anew as the means and methods of warfare advance and develop over time. How do central components of contemporary IHL such as targeting and civilian harm mitigation, combatant status and the protection of prisoners of war, and superior/command responsibility apply in the current context of the ongoing armed conflict in Ukraine? And how are these rules to be enforced, and if they cannot be enforced, is it appropriate to describe the rules as international “law” at all?

Join us for this interesting discussion with our guest speaker Brian L. Cox, uOttawa Faculty of Law Visiting Scholar, which will be moderated by Sophie Rondeau, LL.D., of the Canadian Red Cross.