Treaty obligation to promote public education and the teaching of international law

Abstract

Currently various international treaties require contracting States to disseminate the text of international conventions and to promote public education concerning relevant issues of international law. In this regard, the teaching of international law has an important contribution to make in effectuating the treaty obligation. At the same time, the teaching of international law may contribute to promote public awareness for monitoring the compliance with treaties by government. Thus this study will explore the role of international legal education in effectuating the obligation to disseminate the text of relevant treaties and to promote public education concerning international law.

Keywords:

• international legal education
• international law
• public education
• humanitarian law
• human rights
• environmental protection

Acknowledgements

The author thanks the anonymous reviewers for their useful comments and suggestions.

Notes

1. UN General Assembly Resolution 44/23, 17 November 1989, United Nations Decade of International Law.

2. Ibid. See also Abeyratne, R.I.R. (1992), ‘The United Nations Decade of International Law,’ International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society, 5, 511–523.

3. UN General Assembly Resolution of 28 November 1990, A/RES/45/40, Annex: Programme for the Activities to be Commenced During the First Term (1990–1992) of the United Nations Decade of International Law, Section IV, para. 2.

4. Institut de droit international, ‘The Teaching of Public and Private International Law,’ Session of Strasbourg, 1997. The Resolution is available at the homepage of the Institut, www.idi-iil.org (accessed 12 March 2008).

5. Several members of the ILA Committee on the Teaching of International Law expressed their concern that international law is frequently regarded as a secondary subject. International Law Association (ILA) (2002), Report of the Seventieth Conference Held in New Delhi (2–6 April 2002), London: International Law Association, pp. 703, 708, 710, and 714. See also Gamble, J.K. (1993), ‘The Decade’s Emphasis on Education in International Law,’ ASIL Proceedings, 87, 364, 362–367; Barrett, Jr, J.A. (1997), ‘International Legal Education in U.S. Law Schools: Plenty of Offerings, But Too Few Students,’ The International Lawyer, 31, 845–867. Nonetheless, it must be stressed that some countries particularly in the European continent are actively developing the teaching of international law. For instance, in Switzerland, the Masters in international law programme of the Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development offers nearly 40 courses relating to the law. HEI, Student’s Guide 2007–2008, Geneva: Graduate Institute of International Studies and Development, pp. 36–38. Further to this, it is suggested that public international law be changed from an optional course to a compulsory course in Brazil. ILA, Report of the Seventieth Conference, p. 704. International law is also taught as a compulsory subject in several universities in South Africa. Ibid., at pp. 710–713. In Australia, international law is compulsory at University of Sydney Law School as well as Australian National University Law School. Simpson, G. (1999), ‘On the Magic Mountain: Teaching Public International Law,’ European Journal of International Law, 10, 70–92. See also the website of University of Sydney Law School, www.law.usyd.edu.au/cstudent/undergrad/docs_pdfs/2007unitcodes.pdf (accessed 14 July 2007) and the website of Australian National University Law School, http://law.anu.edu.au/Undergraduate/courses.asp (accessed 14 July 2007).

6. International Law Association (ILA) (2004), Proceedings of the Workshop on the Teaching of International Law (3 April 2004), pp. 12–15. This document is available at the homepage of ILA, www.ila-hq.org/ (accessed 14 July 2007). See also Freeland, S. (2005), ‘Educating Lawyers for Transnational Challenges – The Globalization of Legal Regulation,’ Journal of Legal Education, 55, 500–506; Reisman, M. (1986), ‘The Teaching of International Law in the Eighties,’ The International Lawyer, 80, 987–995.

7. It should be noted that this is a treaty obligation, not an obligation in customary international law.

8. Brierly has argued that international public opinion ‘is intrinsically a weaker force than opinion in the domestic sphere, yet it is in a sense more effective as a sanction of the law [international law]’. Brierly, J.L. (1958), ‘Sanctions,’ in The Basis of Obligation in International Law and Other Papers, J.L. Brierly, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. 203.

9. Cf. Simpson, supra note 5, p. 84.

10. ILA, supra note 6, p. 8.

11. For the purpose of this study, the concept of education in international law or international legal education includes the teaching of international law in general as well as the teaching of a specific subject of international law, such as international humanitarian law, international environmental law, international human rights law, etc.

12. Article 47 of the 1949 Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field; Article 48 of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea; Article 127 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War; Article 83 of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts; Article 19 of Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non‐International Armed Conflicts. For the text of these conventions, see Roberts, A., and Guelff, R. (eds.) (2002), Documents on the Law of War (3rd ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press.

13. Fujita, H. (2000), Droit international humanitaire (in Japanese), Tokyo: Toshindo, p. 182; ILA, supra note 6, p. 14.

14. In this respect, the Institut recommended that: ‘The curricula of military academies and similar institutions for the training of officers and non‐commissioned officers should incorporate, in addition to the course on general matters, a course on the law of armed conflict, including international humanitarian law. The main rules of this body of law should also be part of the training of all members of the armed forces.’ Supra note 4, para. 6(2).

15. Kadam, U. (2001), ‘Teaching International Humanitarian Law in Academic Institutions in South Asia: An Overview of an ICRC Dissemination Programme,’ International Review of the Red Cross, 83, 167–169.

16. Greenberg Research Inc. (1999), The People on War Report: ICRC Worldwide Consultation on the Rules of War, Geneva: International Committee of the Red Cross, p. 68. War‐torn countries include: Colombia, El Salvador, Philippines, Georgians, Abkhaz, Afghanistan, Cambodia, Bosnia‐Herzegovina, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Somalia, South Africa and Nigeria.

17. Ibid. It appeared that another permanent member of the Security Council, that is to say, China was not included in the survey.

18. Kadam, supra note 15, pp. 167–168.

19. Ibid., p. 168.

20. Vierucci, L. (2001), ‘Promoting the Teaching of International Humanitarian Law in Universities: the ICRC’s Experience in Central Asia,’ International Review of the Red Cross, 83, 155–169.

21. Ibid., p. 156.

22. Ibid., p. 158.

23. Ibid., p. 160.

24. In the ILA Workshop in 2004, Dougherty has stated that teaching international humanitarian law to students who had no basic course in public international law encountered the greatest difficulty. ILA, supra note 6, p. 8.

25. Article 2 of the 1993 Statute of the International Tribunal for the Persecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia Since 1991. The text of the Statute is reproduced in Evans, M.D. (2003), Blackstone’s International Law Documents (6th ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 378.

26. Article 8 of the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. For the text, see Evans, supra note 25, at p. 463. On this issue, see also Meron, T. (2006), The Humanization of International Law, Leiden and Boston: Njihoff, pp. 91–185.

27. With respect to the recent studies on this subject, see in particular Ridruejo, J.A.P. (2007), ‘Droit international des droits de l’homme et droit international humanitaire: leurs rapports à la lumière de la jurisprudence de la Court internationale de Justice,’ in Promoting Justice, Human Rights and Conflict Resolution through International Law, Liber Amicorum Lucius Caflisch, ed. M.G. Kohen, Leiden: Nijfhoff, pp. 399–407; Lubell, N. (2005), ‘Challenges in Applying Human Rights Law to Armed Conflict,’ International Review of the Red Cross, 87, 737–754; Provost, R. (2002), International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

28. UN General Assembly Resolution 2853 (XXVI), Respect for Human Rights in Armed Conflicts, 20 December 1971, para. 6 of the operative part.

29. UN Security Council Resolution S/RES/827, 25 May 1993, para. 3 of the Preamble.

30. Ibid., para. 4 of the Preamble.

31. UN Security Council Resolution S/RES/955, 8 November 1994, para. 4 of the Preamble.

32. Ibid., para. 5 of the Preamble.

33. Vierucci, supra note 20, at 164.

34. Supra note 3, section IV, para. 6.

35. Birnie, P.W., and Boyle, A. (1995), Basic Documents on International Law and the Environment, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 7.

36. See Chapter 36 of Agenda 21, ‘Promoting Education, Public Awareness and Training’.

37. 36.5(b) of Agenda 21.

38. Sands, P. (2003), Principles of International Environmental Law (2nd ed.), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 860–861.

39. For the text of the treaties, see Birnie and Boyle, supra note 35.

40. For the text of the Protocol, see (2000) 39 ILM 1027.

41. For the text, see Brownlie, I., and Goodwin‐Gill, G.S. (2006), Basic Documents on Human Rights (5th ed.), Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 430–447.

42. Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land‐Based Activities, para. 2. The text is available at www.gpa.unep.org/bin/pho/home/index.php (accessed 14 July 2007).

43. For the text of the Rio Declaration, see Birnie and Boyle, supra note 35, at 9.

44. The text is available at www.helcom.fi/helcom24/MinDec.pdf (accessed 14 July 2007).

45. Article 9(1). The text is available at www.ospar.org/ (accessed 14 July 2007).

46. For the text of the Vienna Declaration, see Brownlie and Goodwin‐Gill, supra note 41, pp. 138–163. On this issue, see for instance Krain, M., and Nurse, A.M. (2004), ‘Teaching Human Rights Through Service Learning,’ Human Rights Quarterly, 26, 189–207; Henry, C.P. (1991), ‘Educating for Human Rights,’ Human Rights Quarterly, 13, 420–423; Martin, J.P. (1987), ‘Human Rights – Education for What?,’ Human Rights Quarterly, 9, 414–422.

47. Brownlie and Goodwin‐Gill, supra note 41, pp. 146–147. See also Article 26(2) of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ibid., p. 27.

48. Vienna Declaration, supra note 46, para. 79.

49. Ibid., at para. 80.

50. United Nations Decade for Human Rights Education, A/RES/49/184, 23 December 1994, para. 2 of the operative part.

51. Ibid., para. 6.

52. UN General Assembly Resolution 59/113, World Programme for Human Rights Education, A/RES/59/113, 17 February 2005.

53. For the text of these treaties, see Brownlie and Goodwin‐Gill, supra note 41.