and for Rwanda.76 Therefore, there is nothing surprising in the fact that in recent years
the attention has been focused – in theory and practice – on the national implementation
(within the realm of the domestic law of the States) of the regulations of International
Humanitarian Law.77
95.
The grave violations of International Humanitarian Law (which are also grave
violations of human rights), enshrined in the four Conventions of Geneva and the I
Additional Protocol (supra) have also been felt in the Statute of Rome of 1998 of the
International Criminal Court;78 its Article 8, upon identifying the elements of war crimes,
for example, includes a broader list (than that of the four Conventions of Geneva) of the
mentioned grave violations.79 The concept of said grave violations of International
Humanitarian Law (and of human rights) perpetrated in domestic or non-international
armed conflicts.
96.
This reveals another situation amid the complexity of contemporary armed
conflicts (domestic or non-international, as well as international): in case of grave
violations of Humanitarian International Law (or the rights of the human being),80
contemporary International Criminal Law must be applied. The complexities of the
situations of armed conflicts (domestic or international) are clear, and they reveal the
pressing need for protection of all the victims, and to provide reparation to all of them,
that is, - the victims of terrorist acts perpetrated both by mere individuals (including
clandestine or non-identified agents) as well as by the State itself. In said circumstances,
.
76
Ibid., pp. 95 and 231.
.
Cf., v.g., M. Bothe, P. Macalister-Smith y Th. Kurzidem (eds.), National
Implementation of International Humanitarian Law, Dordrecht, Nijhoff, 1990, pp. 1-273;
[Several Authors,] La Aplicación Nacional del Derecho Internacional Humanitario y de las
Convenciones Interamericanas Relacionadas (Actas de la Conferencia de San José de
Costa Rica de 2001), San José de Costa Rica, CICR/OEA, 2002, pp. 19-170; K. Drzewicki,
"National Legislation as a Measure for Implementation of International Humanitarian
Law", in Implementation of International Humanitarian Law / Mise-en-oeuvre du Droit
international humanitaire (eds. F. Kalshoven y Y. Sandoz et alii), Dordrecht, Nijhoff,
1989, pp. 109-131; M. Bothe, "The Role of National Law in the Implementation of
International Humanitarian Law", in Études et essais sur le droit international humanitaire
et sur les principes de la Croix-Rouge en l'honneur de Jean Pictet (ed. Christophe
Swinarski), Genève/La Haye, CICR/Nijhoff, 1984, pp. 301-312.
77
.
78
Cf., v.g., its Article 7, on crimes against humanity.
.
Cf., in this regard, v.g., Y. Ternon, op. cit. supra n. (45), pp. 52 and 56-57; R.
Provost, International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Cambridge, University Press,
2005 [reprint], p. 106; L. Hannikainen, "Developments of Jus Cogens in International Law
in the Post `Cold War' Years, in Particular in Human Rights Law", in Theory and Practice
of Contemporary International Law - Essays in Honour of Prof. L. Alexidze on the 80th
Birthday Anniversary, Tbilisi, Inovatia, 2007, pp. 44 and 49. And, for a substantial
comment, cf. K. Dörmann, L. Doswald-Beck y R. Kolb, Elements of War Crimes under the
Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court - Sources and Commentary, Cambridge,
University Press, 2003, pp. 1-498.
79
.
80
That constitute acts of genocide, crimes of war, or crimes against humanity.
28