Danilo Türk Book Presentation

Chapter ten discusses the issues of collective security – the prohibition of the use of force by states and measures for the maintenance of international peace and security. It starts with the history of the prohibition of the use of force and explains the current scope of that prohibition and the legality of self-defense and coercive measures conducted or authorized by the UN Security Council. Recent developments related to the question of the use of force and specific examples are also discussed. The chapter also discusses the measures of the UN Security Council not involving the use of force, including the recent evolution of the Council’s practice towards targeted sanctions. One of the sections in this chapter is devoted to the basic legal characteristics of the peacekeeping operations and their evolution towards operations mandated under Chapter VII of the UN Charter (elements of enforce-ment action, initially alien to the concept of peacekeeping). Another section of this chapter deals with the issues of arms control and disarmament, while the final section is devoted to counterterrorism and to measures against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Counterterrorism has become an important feature of international cooperation and has given rise to new institutional forms such as the Counterterrorism Committee of the UN Security Council. Chapter eleven, the final chapter of the book, deals with the issues of international law of armed conflicts. It starts with the notion of just war, the concepts of the ius ad bellum and ius in bello and explains the circumstances in which the original meaning of the ius ad bellum has changed while the norms constituting the ius in bello developed into the contemporary system of the law of armed conflicts. The evolution of treaty law (the “Hague law” and the “Geneva law”) and of other sources is also explained. Proceeding from these basic explanations the focus of discussion is placed on the issue of protection of persons (combatants and civilians) in armed conflicts – both in international armed conflicts and in armed conflicts which are not of an international character. The role of the protecting power and of the ICRC is also discussed. A separate section of this chapter deals with the issues of limitations in the conduct of hostilities related to the objects of military action and the methods and means of warfare. The special legal

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