Conclusions: Chapter 1
Section 1. Transposition of the obligation to ensure respect
2 France and Common Article 1
2.2 Common Article 1 in national law
2.2.2 An express recognition of Common Article 1 in policy documents
In any case, the particular status of the Geneva Conventions in IHL and the international legal order in general seems to be recognized. By way of example, the Law Textbook on Armed Conflicts (Manuel de droit des conflits armés) considers that the Geneva Conventions constitute, even today, the basis of IHL. This Textbook was written as a working tool aimed at supporting the military in the legal aspects of their conduct. It is not legally binding, but it offers a useful tool to approach the interpretation of French authorities with respect to IHL. In this Textbook, the obligation to ensure respect is referred to, as it is the condition of IHL’s efficiency:
Pour être efficace, le droit des conflits armés doit être respecté par le plus grand nombre d’États. Il doit tendre vers l’universalité, afin d’être accepté par tous. Il doit aussi être encadré par des mesures de confiance, de surveillance, de contrôle et de sanction564.
The Textbook likewise recognizes that the exemplary behavior of the French military is an element that contributes to ensuring respect for IHL:
L’exemplarité du comportement de nos forces armées en la matière permet aussi que ces règles, parfois ignorées ou transgressées, soient mieux appliquées partout dans le monde565.
562 Cour de cassation, chambre criminelle, case nº 95-81527, 26 March 1996, E. Javor and al. vs. X.
563 This aspect is extensively addressed in Chapter 4.
564 Direction des Affaires Juridiques. Manuel de droit des conflits armés. Paris: Ministère de la Défense, 2012. p. 11.
565 Direction des Affaires Juridiques. Manuel de droit des conflits armés. op. cit., 2012. p. 11.
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It thus appears that the French authorities are well aware that they must ensure respect for IHL internally in order to be credible when conducting action to ensure respect for IHL externally.
In the same line, France’s Humanitarian Strategy for the period 2012-2017 (Stratégie Humanitaire de la République Française, hereafter, ‘Strategy’) explicitly refers to Common Article 1 as one of the guiding principles of its humanitarian action in the following terms:
La France respecte et s’efforce de faire respecter le droit international humanitaire lors de tous les conflits armés, internationaux ou non-internationaux, conformément à l’article 1 commun aux quatre conventions de Genève du 12 août 1949566.
In this respect, it is worth noticing that France recognizes the application of Common Article 1 both in international and non-international armed conflicts. There also seems to be a sense of permanence in the wording chosen (“tous les conflits armés”).
Furthermore, the Strategy refers to the necessity to reach both State and non-State actors in order to effectively ensure respect for IHL. The Strategy further confirms the relevance of IHL and the idea that it cannot be called in question, either directly or indirectly. It therefore acknowledges the need to reach a uniform and ambitious interpretation, and to foster its application in good faith by all actors involved. It is also worth mentioning that the Strategy refers to the Responsibility to Protect as another guiding principle of France’s humanitarian action on the international stage.567
In addition, it is important to note that France frames its action also within the EU context. In this respect, it refers to different provisions of EU law relating to humanitarian action and aid. The fact that the Strategy expressly refers to the EU Guidelines on promoting compliance with IHL and states that France’s action ensures that they are implemented is of particular interest for the purpose of this thesis568.
566 Ministère des affaires étrangères, Stratégie humanitaire de la République française, Paris, 06.07.2012.
p. 12.
567 Ibid., pp. 12-13.
568 Ministère des affaires étrangères, Stratégie humanitaire de la République française, op. cit., p. 13:
“Elle veille attentivement à la mise en œuvre des “Lignes directrices concernant la promotion du droit international humanitaire”, dont l’Union européenne s’est dotée en 2005”.
The importance given to Common Article 1 is likewise expressed in the paragraph on strengthening national and international partnerships. Indeed, France commits to develop initiatives aiming at ensuring respect for IHL together with Red Cross Movement, by intervening both in multilateral and bilateral fora, so as to support all the actors involved in armed conflicts to respect IHL569.
Furthermore, the ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law provides examples of statements made by the highest French public authorities whereby they declare their commitment to Common Article 1570. One of these speeches is particularly eloquent in this regard, as the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs stated the following:
[A]ll State parties to the conventions [1949 Geneva Conventions and their protocols] must not only obey them but also ensure that they are obeyed by the parties in an armed conflict.
What that means is that the international community has a special responsibility in ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law571.
These declarations leave no doubt. Common Article 1 is understood as a legal obligation as the wording indicates, and the external dimension of the obligation to ensure respect for IHL is explicitly stated. It also clearly endorses the idea that Common Article 1 establishes a system of collective responsibility binding upon the international community.
It can therefore be concluded that not only is France bound by the obligation to ensure respect for IHL as any other State party to the Geneva Conventions, but it also is well aware of that and expressly recognizes so. Even though there is no doubt from an international perspective that France is bound by the Geneva Conventions, the domestic jurisprudence on the Geneva Conventions is not conclusive regarding Common Article 1 specifically. Nonetheless, some elements of soft law clearly indicate that France recognizes that it has a duty to ensure respect for IHL not only internally but also externally. In this respect, while the Strategy is not legally binding, it offers an interesting insight about the French perspective on the obligation to ensure respect for
569 Ibid., p. 25.
570 Practice Relating to Rule 144. Ensuring Respect for International Humanitarian Law Erga Omnes.
571 Ibid.
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IHL. The importance and relevance of the latter are emphasized, and the tone of the Strategy highlights the necessity and urgency to effectively ensure respect for IHL.
Likewise, the Strategy endorses the broad interpretation of Common Article 1, understood as an obligation to ensure respect for IHL not only internally, but also by others.