Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons, And International Humanitarian Law

The fact that war is the primary cause of people being uprooted prompts us to ask what protection the law of armed conflict affords refugees and displaced persons. How does humanitarian law protect groups of civilians from being forced to flee? What protection does it offer those who have nevertheless been uprooted, and how does that protection interrelate with refugee law? How can the Red Cross and Red Crescent organizations, in particular the International Committee of the Red Cross (“ICRC”), come to the aid of refugees and displaced persons? These are the questions this Article aims to answer. First, however, let us recall what international humanitarian law is

ICRC action during the Second World War

Following allegations that appeared in the press last summer, calling into question the actions of some of its delegates during the Second World War, the ICRC resolved to shed full light on that period in its history. The allegations were based on a number of reports by agents of the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of today's CIA, and suggested that ICRC delegates had been involved in activities that were inconsistent with the organization's humanitarian mandat

The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Development of International Humanitarian Law

Notwithstanding its private-initiative origins, the International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) has been the main driving force behind the development of international humanitarian law for 140 years. It was the ICRC that took the initiative which led to the adoption of the original Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864, an instrument that is the starting point of contemporary international humanitarian law and a landmark in the development of public international law; it was the ICRC that laid the groundwork for the subsequent developments of that law. How was it that five individuals managed to have the initial Geneva Convention adopted? What was the significance of that treaty? What was the ICRC\u27s role in the drafting of subsequent conventions and what is its role today in relation to the development of international humanitarian law? And finally, what is the outlook for the future? These are the questions this article sets out to answer

Measurements of hillslope debris flow impact pressure on obstacles

We present measurements of hillslope debris flow impact pressures on small obstacles. Two impact sensors have been installed in a real-scale experimental site where 50m3 of water-saturated soil material are released from rest. Impact velocities vary between 2 and 13m/s; flow heights between 0.3 and 1.0m. The maximum impact pressures measured over 15 events represent between 2 and 50 times the equivalent static pressures. The measurements reveal that quadratic velocity-dependent formulas can be used to estimate impact pressures. Impact coefficients C are constant from front to tail and range between 0.4 < C < 0.8 according to the individual events. The pressure fluctuations to depend on the sensor size and are between 20% and 60% of the mean pressure values. Our results suggest that hazard guidelines for hillslope debris flows should be based on quadratic velocity-dependent formula