International Humanitarian Law

"Inter armas silent leges. When force speaks, the laws are silent. And the more brutal the force, the more complete the silence of law", as Peter Weiss has observed. This is the way history and also events of today lead us to think. However, international humanitarian law has always been a central element of international law, responding to new developments on the battlefield, warfare and human rights to limit and prevent human suffering in times of armed conflict by rules and to see that these rules are observed.

International humanitarian law is definitely one of the highest ranking fields of interest for the Peace Palace Library, as befits a library in The Hague, the International Centre of Justice and Peace. The collection is extensive and comprises several centuries. It shows the (peaceful) explosion of literature in this specific area of international law especially during the last decades, from 37 documents in the 19th century, to 78 documents in the first half of the 20th century, to 2177 in the second half. Since 2000 as many as 593 entries have been catalogued under the systematic code for international humanitarian law. A number of 2871 items such as books, articles, documents, periodicals can be found, plus many entries on related subjects as economic sanctions, the media and international humanitarian law.

From the precious works of Gentili and Grotius on the laws of war, Henry Dunant's Un souvenir de Solférino (1862), and the Lieber Code(1863), the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War and their two Additional Protocols of 1977, the Hague Conventions, the Genocide Convention (1948) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) to the case law of international humanitarian law by the courts in The Hague, the International Court of Justice (Nuclear Weapons), and the other court in The Hague, the International Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia, which has the power to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law. Last but not least the International Criminal Court, based on the Rome Statute, the first permanent international judicial body capable of trying individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes when national courts are unable or unwilling to do so, will produce and inspire new publications. The whole development of international humanitarian law and its reflection in the publications of the specialists are represented in the Library collection.

Images from Aga Khan's book on the African refugee problem, which is as dramatic as it was in 1971.

Many experts in the field visited The Hague to lecture at the Hague Academy of International Law and their courses are published in the Recueil des Cours. E. Borel lectured the organization of the Red Cross, H. Wehberg on the Geneva Convention and Ronzitti on human rights in armed naval conflicts. Others important scholars are Frits Kalshoven, G. Abi-Saab, G.I.A.D. Draper, D. Schindler, H. Coursier, J.S. Pictet, and S. Aga Khan.

Publications from the Red Cross, the Institut Henry-Dunant in Geneva, the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo and other human rights organizations are in the Library. The latest acquisition for the Library collection is Making the Voice of Humanity Heard: Essays on International Humanitarian Law (2004). It sums up the role of the International Red Cross and the Red Crescent.

Surely, then, rather than forced to remain silent the laws are challenged to speak up in these turbulent times.