East African Journal of Law and Ethics

Analysis of the Extent of Protection Accorded to Civilians, Civilian Populations, and Civilian Objects by International Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts

Mwita John — 2024-03-16

Protecting civilians, civilian populations, civilian objects, and other persons who do not actively participate in hostilities is a cornerstone of International Humanitarian Law. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols I and II constitute an international humanitarian legal framework for protecting civilians, civilian populations and civilian objects during armed conflicts. Facts have it that civilians, civilian populations, and persons who no longer take an active part in warfare are the ones who suffer the most from the effects of war. International Humanitarian law seeks to ensure that civilians and civilian populations are not subjected to attacks, actual violence, or threats of violence during armed conflicts of international and non-international nature. This Article analyzes the extent to which civilians, civilian populations, and civilian objects are protected by International Humanitarian Law whereby more specifically, the author analyzes relevant provisions of Geneva Convention IV Relative to the protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 1949, Additional Protocol I relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, of 1977, and Additional Protocol II relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, of 1977 and finally recommends inter alia that international humanitarian law should develop a new body of Law to protect innocent civilians following the emerging global war on terrorism owing to increased difficulties of distinguishing terrorists from civilians

Defining an International Crime: Historical and Contemporary Developments

Amade Roberts Amana, PhD — 2024-04-15

Despite the desirability of the identity of crimes being specific, the category of conduct constituting international crimes remains blurry. In consequence, the controversy over what is, or is not, an international crime has continued to rage on. Different criteria have been used to classify a specific conduct as an international crime. As a source of authority, some authorities point to the works of scholars, treaties, legal systems, the statutes of international criminal courts, or even works of the International Law Commission, to identify an international crime. Nevertheless, unanimity in identification remains elusive. Thus, this article examines differing perspectives on the constituents of international crimes. The analysis is relevant because the definition of crime forms the bedrock of international criminal justice. However, the paper finds that leaving the category of conducts constituting an international crime open, facilitates the inclusion of other grave or emerging forms of criminality, which may also rise to the threshold of the crimes within the jurisdiction of international criminal tribunals. Although this may appear advantageous, the need for predictability, consistency and uniformity in the categorization of an international crime cannot be overemphasized

Corruption and Good Governance in Africa: A Hermeneutical Analysis

Mark Omorovie Ikeke, PhD — 2024-04-30

Human beings are social and communal animals and cannot but live in an ordered society and have interactive relationships, hence good governance, which is essential for their well-being and development. This fact grounds their forming governmental apparatus to coordinate the things that are common to them; otherwise, violence and warfare may continue unabated. Good governance does not just happen. Those elected or appointed into positions of governance need to be effective, efficient and exhibit an ethical character to ensure that the good life constitutive of the promotion of human rights, provision of social facilities, and all that provide a better life for the people are in place. In the African continent, many of those in governance, instead of working for the public good to ensure a better life for their citizens, serve their private and parochial interests to the detriment of the welfare of the people by engaging in massive corruption. Corruption, especially political and public, has grave effects on the economy and the lives of the people all over the continent. Massive corruption has siphoned public funds for development projects and lodged them in foreign banks. This has led to poverty and underdevelopment, weakened sustainable development goals, caused youth restiveness, led to forced migration, poor environmental growth, and loss of millions of lives. Problematized in this paper is a continent endowed and blessed with natural and human resources but remains the poorest, most undeveloped continent in the world because of corruption. The paper used hermeneutics and critical analytic methods to examine corruption as an impediment to good governance in Africa. The hermeneutics method was used to interpret, decipher, and highlight the importance of this work’s principal concepts. The critical-analytic method was used to rationalize the arguments. The paper found that massive corruption is decimating the continent and that there is a need to combat it to ensure good governance. It concluded that combating corruption will help create a better continent where people enjoy a good life and democratic entitlements