REFWORLD, CD-ROM, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (ed.), Geneva, 1996

Produced by the Centre for Documentation and Research of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), this CD-ROM is intended to be a basic research tool for anyone interested in refugee law and, more generally, in information relating to refugees. It includes a series of very useful documents such as legal texts, UNHCR and United Nations documentation, recent country reports and a bibliographical database containing over 12,000 references.

It is easy to operate and user-friendly in a PC-compatible Windows environment. The only drawback is the price: the annual subscription costs 250 US dollars. The other alternative is to use the UNHCR Web site, which includes most of the information contained on the CD-ROM but is not so easy to handle [1]. The CD-ROM is available only in English.


Catalogue des publications, ICRC, Geneva, 1996, 109 pp.

This new edition of the Catalogue des publications lists all the books, brochures and other texts published by the ICRC and available to the general public. The English and Spanish versions will come out later this year.


Mohamed El Asbali, The National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and their activities under international humanitarian law (title translated from Arabic), Benghazi, 1995, 343 pp. Available only in Arabic.

This work gives an overview of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in particular the National Societies, and outlines their legal situation, mandate and activities. It also includes an introduction to international humanitarian law. The author is legal adviser to the Libyan Red Crescent.


World in crisis, Médecins sans frontières, Routledge, London and New York, 1996.

This is the annual report for 1996 of Médecins sans frontières. Taking a broad view of humanitarian action, the report examines certain of today's major issues. Also available in French.


Larry Minear and Philippe Guillot, Soldiers to the rescue: Humanitarian lessons from Rwanda, OECD Development Centre, Paris, 1996, 200 pp. Also available in French.

The authors of this report analyse the role played by the armed forces in the tragedy that befell Rwanda. They endeavour to find an answer to the question as to whether it is advisable for armed forces to intervene in major humanitarian crises.


Revue de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre — The military law and law of war review, Vol. XXXV, 1996 (texts in French and English).

This volume includes, inter alia, the Final Acts of the 23rd International Congress of the International Society for Military Law and Law of War (Vienna-Baden, 1994).


Roger Durand (ed.), Gustave Ador: 58 ans d'engagement politique et humanitaire (Gustave Ador: 58 years of political and humanitarian commitment), Proceedings of the Gustave Ador Seminar (Geneva, 1995), Gustave Ador Foundation, Geneva, 1996, 566 pp. Available only in French.

To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustave Ador, a historical seminar was held in Geneva to examine the different roles he played during his lifetime: statesman, Swiss delegate to the League of Nations, and President of the ICRC during the First World War. This volume contains the texts of numerouspapers given on that occasion.


Timothy L.H. McCormack, Gerry J. Simpson (eds.), The law of war crimes: National and international approaches, Kluwer Law International, The Hague/London/Boston, 1997, 262 pp.

In nine chapters this work covers all aspects of the "war crime" phenomenon. Eight authors examine the history of this particular type of offence, as well as the prosecution of war crimes at national level (with specific examples), the role of the two international criminal tribunals set up on an ad hoc basis for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and also the plan to establish a permanent international criminal court.


Adam Roberts, Humanitarian action in war: Aid, protection and impartiality in a policy vacuum, ADELPHI Paper 305, Oxford University Press for The International Institute for Strategic Studies, London, 1996, 96 pp.

The author considers issues which are fundamental to the future of humanitarian action: the concept of intervention on humanitarian grounds, impartiality and neutrality, humanitarian problems linked to economic sanctions, the protection of relief workers (security aspects), and the coordination of humanitarian action at international level.


Hans-Peter Gasser, "Collective economic sanctions and international humanitarian law — An enforcement measure under the United Nations Charter and the right of civilians to immunity: An unavoidable clash of policy goals?", Zeitschrift für ausländisches öffentliches Recht und Völkerrecht, Vol. 56/4, 1996, pp. 871-904.

This article examines the limits established by international humanitarian law which the Security Council has to take into account in any decision to impose collective economic sanctions.


Note :

1. http//www.unhcr.ch