Article

Canada's role in the development of the law of armed conflict

Leslie C. Green

• Canadian yearbook of international law, Vol. 18, 1980, p. 91-112

English

Photocopies

This article provides an overview of Canadian contributions to IHL in the form of jurisprudence and the drafting process of the two Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions. The author argues that the main contribution to IHL by Canada has been in the form of judicial decisions. In various cases Canadian courts proposed that a state of war could exist in the absence of an official declaration of war, a formulation of the law of prize for the capture of things during a war, and developed the rights and responsibilities of neutrals in a conflict. Additionally Canadian courts made decisions concerning the proper treatment of prisoners of war and held that they were not exempt from local criminal law. Finally, Canadian courts have held that a court may use the actions of an officer that breach IHL as evidence of the responsibility of a commander for the crime. Canada also played a role in the revision and drafting of the two Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions. For example, during the drafting process for Protocol I Canada sought to expand the protections offered by IHL further than other member countries were initially prepared to concede. [Summary by students at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (IHRP)]