The law of armed conflict - often understood as "international humanitarian law" - is central to international policy, legal and scholarly debates about regional and global security and the related conduct, rights and responsibilities of governments and other armed actors.

This course teaches the corpus of this legal regime as laid out in the Geneva Conventions, their Additional Protocols and customary international law, and enables students to develop a critical understanding of the law of armed conflict, its development and key elements and applications.

This course will accordingly equip students with knowledge and skills to engage with the complex and contested terrain of the regulation of armed conflict in both traditional and contemporary forms.

10 x 2 hour seminars in semester 2.

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The course is assessed by an essay of 1500 words (25%) and a 2 hour final examination (75%).

The aim of this course is to provide students with a critical understanding of the laws of armed conflict and the role of international law in regulating international and non-international armed conflicts.

By the end of the course students should be able to:

1. Demonstrate a thorough understanding of the laws of armed conflict.

2. Demonstrate critical understanding of the various challenges this legal order is currently facing.

3. Apply the laws of armed conflict to concrete situations.

Students must submit at least 75% by weight of the components (including examinations) of the course's summative assessment.