1977 protocol II additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law

Traditionally the laws of war, or widely known as international humanitarian law today, in principle did not cover civil wars but only wars between States. The Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 to increase the protection of victims in armed conflicts, but the protection of the victims in internal conflict by the Conventions was limited. Thus, Protocol II additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 was introduced in 1977 to be specifically applicable to non-international armed conflicts in order to ameliorate the conditions of those who suffer in such conflict.A State confronting a conflict in its own territory is almost always unwilling to apply an international treaty to the situation, and therefore the pace of the ratification of Protocol II has been slow. The State is not bound by the treaty unless she ratifies it, and an internal war tends to become severe and cruel with few regulations. Despite such inadequate protection, however, customary international law based on State practice and opinio furls applies to such circumstances. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to ascertain the customary status of Protocol II.This thesis first examines whether customary rules had existed before the introduction of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and proceeds to study what is customary international law applicable to non-international armed conflict. Then this author determines whether each article of Protocol II has become customary by investigating into State practice and opinio juris, and he finds through the investigation that only a little part of the Protocol has become customary. Notwithstanding such insufficient protection for the victims in civil conflict, however, the general principles of the laws of war are always applicable to internal conflict. In addition this writer emphasises the importance of the domestic "implementation" of the humanitarian rules and recommends the introduction of a unified and simplified treaty in the future revision of the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols

International crimes in United Kingdom and Japanese law and practice.

The incorporation and application of international criminal law by states is critical if the gravest acts are to be deterred and punished. International law and institutions cannot alone meet the challenge of addressing these crimes. That the principle of complementarity is central to the operation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) supports this fact. As does customary international law, which permits states to assume universal jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The UK and Japan, as relatively powerful states, members of the G7, and parties of to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute) can play a meaningful role in ensuring that international criminal law is applied and enforced. They can set an example to other states of the commitment to further global criminal justice. Whilst both countries have in general terms acted in accordance with the aim of pursuing global criminal justice more can, and should, be done. Indeed, as regards the UK Baroness Helena Kennedy in late 2023 has written "…despite its robust judicial system, top-tier law schools, and an abundance of highly skilled legal professionals, the UK has done little in the last decade to deliver meaningful accountability for international crimes in its own courts". This article describes the approaches taken by the UK and Japan to the core international crimes and considers why the law and practice in both countries is not as effective as it should be

Development of an X-ray HARP–FEA detector system for high-throughput protein crystallography

A new detector system for protein crystallography based on an X-ray HARP–FEA is presented

A novel locally operated master-slave robot system for single-incision laparoscopic surgery

Purpose: Single-incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) provides more cosmetic benefits than conventional laparoscopic surgery but presents operational difficulties. To overcome this technical problem, we have developed a locally operated master-slave robot system that provides operability and a visual field similar to conventional laparoscopic surgery. Material and methods: A surgeon grasps the master device with the left hand, which is placed above the abdominal wall, and holds a normal instrument with the right hand. A laparoscope, a slave robot, and the right-sided instrument are inserted through one incision. The slave robot is bent in the body cavity and its length, pose, and tip angle are changed by manipulating the master device; thus the surgeon has almost the same operability as with normal laparoscopic surgery. To evaluate our proposed system, we conducted a basic task and an ex vivo experiment. Results: In basic task experiments, the average object-passing task time was 9.50 sec (SILS cross), 22.25 sec (SILS parallel), and 7.23 sec (proposed SILS). The average number of instrument collisions was 3.67 (SILS cross), 14 (SILS parallel), and 0.33 (proposed SILS). In the ex vivo experiment, we confirmed the applicability of our system for single-port laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Conclusion: We demonstrated that our proposed robot system is useful for single-incision laparoscopic surgery.ArticleMINIMALLY INVASIVE THERAPY & ALLIED TECHNOLOGIES. 23(6):326-332 (2014)journal articl

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) for AKARI

The Far-Infrared Surveyor (FIS) is one of two focal plane instruments on the AKARI satellite. FIS has four photometric bands at 65, 90, 140, and 160 um, and uses two kinds of array detectors. The FIS arrays and optics are designed to sweep the sky with high spatial resolution and redundancy. The actual scan width is more than eight arcmin, and the pixel pitch is matches the diffraction limit of the telescope. Derived point spread functions (PSFs) from observations of asteroids are similar to the optical model. Significant excesses, however, are clearly seen around tails of the PSFs, whose contributions are about 30% of the total power. All FIS functions are operating well in orbit, and its performance meets the laboratory characterizations, except for the two longer wavelength bands, which are not performing as well as characterized. Furthermore, the FIS has a spectroscopic capability using a Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS). Because the FTS takes advantage of the optics and detectors of the photometer, it can simultaneously make a spectral map. This paper summarizes the in-flight technical and operational performance of the FIS.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in the AKARI special issue of the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa

日本オリンピック委員会における情報戦略活動

This study summarizes the outline of the ststematic information strategy activities done by Japan Olympic Committee(JOC), which aims to achieve success in the international competitions such as the Olympics. This study shows the things mentioned below: 1) JOC systematically tackles the improvement of international competitiveness, using the word "information strategy" officially. 2) JOC s core organization to tackle the improvement of international competitiveness is "information strategy section" which works as a substructure of the Information and Medical Science Special Committee. 3) "Information strategy section" is a section entrusted as a think-tank for JOC\u27s improvement of international competitiveness. 4) The main roles of "information strategy section" should be to (1) analyze the actual situation (2) make and propose a plan (3) check and evaluate (4) provide information (5) support NF

1977 protocol II additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and customary international law

Traditionally the laws of war, or widely known as international humanitarian law today, in principle did not cover civil wars but only wars between States. The Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1949 to increase the protection of victims in armed conflicts, but the protection of the victims in internal conflict by the Conventions was limited. Thus, Protocol II additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 was introduced in 1977 to be specifically applicable to non-international armed conflicts in order to ameliorate the conditions of those who suffer in such conflict. A State confronting a conflict in its own territory is almost always unwilling to apply an international treaty to the situation, and therefore the pace of the ratification of Protocol II has been slow. The State is not bound by the treaty unless she ratifies it, and an internal war tends to become severe and cruel with few regulations. Despite such inadequate protection, however, customary international law based on State practice and opinio furls applies to such circumstances. The purpose of this thesis is therefore to ascertain the customary status of Protocol II. This thesis first examines whether customary rules had existed before the introduction of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and proceeds to study what is customary international law applicable to non-international armed conflict. Then this author determines whether each article of Protocol II has become customary by investigating into State practice and opinio juris, and he finds through the investigation that only a little part of the Protocol has become customary. Notwithstanding such insufficient protection for the victims in civil conflict, however, the general principles of the laws of war are always applicable to internal conflict. In addition this writer emphasises the importance of the domestic "implementation" of the humanitarian rules and recommends the introduction of a unified and simplified treaty in the future revision of the Geneva Conventions and their Protocols