2023 Edition

     

We are pleased to announce that after undergoing double blind peer review, the articles below have been accepted for publication by the Asia-Pacific Journal of International Humanitarian Law for its 2023 Edition.

The tentative titles and abstracts of the accepted articles are as follows:

• Child Soldier To Warlord Overnight: Sentencing Ongwen in the International Criminal Court | Rebecca Lloyd 

In December 2022, the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered its appeal decision in the case of Dominic Ongwen, a child soldier-turned-commander in the Lord’s Resistance Army in Northern Uganda who had been convicted and sentenced of numerous war crimes in 2021. The case has reopened a debate about how courts should deal with child soldiers-turned-perpetrators, or CSTPs. The ICC, the author contends, eschewed a protectionist approach towards children, and drew a “bright line” between children as victims, and adults as perpetrators. As the author examines, Ongwen’s agency or ability to take action in the conflict setting was not fully explored by the Court. In the author’s view, this was an opportunity missed. The author advocates for a more nuanced approach, which foregrounds agency, and places protectionism and “bright line” thinking in the background.

• Prohibition of the use of nuclear weapons under Islamic Law: filling the gap of International Humanitarian Law? | Kheda Djanaralieva

For the numerous States that have not ratified the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, international humanitarian law fails to prohibit the use of nuclear weapons. Given the role played by some Muslim States in the nuclear weapons realm, this article discusses how Islamic law can be mobilized to support the interdiction of the use of such weapons of mass destruction. As the above quotation illustrates, even though Islamic law flourished centuries ago, Islamic laws apply through time and space and can therefore be used to assess modern issues related to armed conflicts by using analogical reasoning.

• Ethical Paradigm of Buddhism: A Buttress for Compliance with International Humanitarian Law | Pimchanok Palasmith

The core Buddhist morality revolves around the instruction “[t]o avoid all evil, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's mind” (Dhammapada 183). For achieving these aims, Buddhist lay followers were encouraged to uphold precepts and practice meditation. This article, hence, argues that keeping the five precepts and practicing mindfulness of breathing (Ānāpānasati bhāvanā) are conducive for compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL). As the two disciplines were established to govern one’s conduct to a certain extent, either in peace or during war, the ethical doctrine of Buddhism can be harnessed to support the application of IHL.

• Protecting the child who bears arms: How the status of Zones of Peace for Children under Philippine Act No. 11188 distorts International Humanitarian Law | Lance Ryan J. Villarosa

Super soldiers—or the concept that there exists a specific class of soldiers possessing strengths and competence rivaling that of fiction, used to belong solely in the realm of comic books. However, with the enactment of R.A. 11188, it no longer is difficult to imagine the possibility of Super Soldiers through the least expected source: Children. R.A. 11188 commendably declares children, among others, as “Zones of Peace”—absolutely declaring that children can never be the object of an attack and entitling them to special respect in times of armed conflict. However, such noble intention desecrates one of the foundational pillars of International Humanitarian Law: Distinction. R.A. 11188, in sweeping terms, ignores the continued reality of child soldiers and creates a civilian-soldier hybrid who can kill but cannot be killed in the eyes of the law. In the day-to-day warfare situation where a soldier carries the responsibilities of eliminating combatants, saving civilians, and preserving his own life, making him second guess every interaction with a child, who no longer needs to feign innocence, imposes too heavy a burden on him to carry.

 

These articles are currently undergoing copy editing and will be published online as soon as the editing process has been completed. A consolidated Edition will be released in digital and printed form by October 2023.

The Asia-Pacific Journal of International Humanitarian Law (APJIHL) is a publication of the Institute of International Legal Studies-University of the Philippines Law Center (UP-IILS) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The Journal seeks to produce peer-reviewed scholarly articles, book reviews, and commentary on significant developments and current issues in international humanitarian law and related fields. It has a special focus on the Asia-Pacific region, and is published once a year.