Call for Papers: Ethiopian Journal of International Humanitarian Law (EJIHL)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian organization with an international mandate to provide protection and assistance to victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence. ICRC serves as the "guardian" of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), the law applicable in situations of armed conflict. This guardianship role has been formally entrusted to it by all States in the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. One facet of ICRC's role as "guardian" of IHL is its "promotion function", which involves advocacy in favor of IHL, action to disseminate and teach it, and urging States to adopt national measures necessary for its implementation.

The ICRC Delegation to the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has been carrying out this promotional function for decades, supporting the government in its efforts to implement IHL, including translation, dissemination, training of the rules of IHL to the defense forces and providing tailored and general trainings on IHL to different levels and departments of relevant Ministries, including the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Office of Attorney General.

The Delegation also works with Universities to support the teaching of IHL to law students, call upon the expertise available in Universities and stimulate interest in IHL research among Professors. It offers training opportunities for Professors to stimulate IHL teaching and research, organizes workshops, seminars and conferences that explore relevant contemporary issues to keep Professors abreast of the latest developments and solicit their views on IHL questions of concern to the Delegation's work.

As part of its effort to promote IHL scholarship in Ethiopia, ICRC is launching an Annual Academic Journal focusing on IHL issues of relevance to Ethiopia. The Journal aims to stimulate the emergence of an Ethiopian IHL literature informed by IHL issues of particular concern to Ethiopia. The journal also hopes to contribute to the African literature on IHL.

The ICRC will accept abstracts (MS Word Format, max. 1000 words in Times New Roman with Font size 12, 1.5 line spacing, justified) for the inaugural edition of this Journal. We especially encourage submissions (feature articles, case comments, book reviews and reflections/notes, including student notes) on the theme "Enhancing Implementation of IHL in Ethiopia: Achievements, Challenges, and Ways Forward". Other submissions on IHL issues of relevance to Ethiopia are also welcome. Abstracts will also be considered for publishing on other, related topics, particularly those that are concerned with the interpretation and application of law for the benefit of persons affected by armed conflict. Relevant issues include: international law governing the use of force (jus contra bellum); criminal law, domestic and international, insofar as it relates to the enforcement of IHL; international human rights law, international refugee law and related frameworks, particularly as they are applied during armed conflict; etc.

The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 20 May 2020.

Please submit your abstracts to Raji Gezahegn, ICRC Legal Advisor at graji@icrc.org.

Selected abstracts will be announced on 20 June 2020.

Editorial Policy and Author Guidelines of the Journal can be accessed here.

ICRC will pay a modest professional fee for selected authors.

For general enquiries please contact Raji Gezahegn, ICRC Legal Advisor at graji@icrc.org or Eyerusalem Teshome, ICRC Law and Policy Advisor at teyerusalem@icrc.org.

ICRC will pay a modest professional fee for selected authors.