Guinea
1. Constitutional structure and position of IHL in domestic law
The Republic of Guinea has a presidential system of government with a decentralized administration. The President is the head of State and head of the Executive. Legislative power is vested in the National Assembly. They do not have the power to challenge one another, except in case of persistent disagreement on "fundamental issues": Article 76 provides that the President of the Republic, after consulting the President of the National Assembly, may dissolve the latter. Fresh elections must then be held, and if the new majority of deputies votes like the previous majority, the President of the Republic is duty bound to resign.
Article 77 provides that the President of the Republic negotiates international treaties. Peace treaties, trade agreements, and agreements relating to "l’organisation internationale”, implying financial commitments, modifying national legislation, concerning the status of persons ("relatifs à l'état des personnes") or dealing with the renunciation, exchange or adjunction of territory can only be ratified or approved by law. The latter must also obtain the agreement of the populations concerned.
Article 79 provides that, subject to reciprocal application, duly ratified treaties and agreements take precedence over national legislation from the time of their publication (unless they require prior amendment of a constitutional norm, Art. 78). In public international law, however, only bilateral treaties may be conditional on reciprocal application, i.e. not international humanitarian law treaties. It is therefore assumed that under the Guinean Constitution, the latter are not subject to reciprocity. The President may also call a referendum on draft legislation for the implementation of an international treaty, provided he has previously consulted the National Assembly (Art. 45).
The Republic of Guinea ratified the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and both Additional Protocols on 11 July 1984. Guinea accepted the competence of the International Fact-Finding Commission under Article 90 of Protocol I on 20 December 1993.
