Jordan: The Essay Competition on International Humanitarian Law

The year 2024 marks the 75^th anniversary of the 1949 Four Geneva Conventions.  They specifically protect people who are not taking part in the hostilities, including civilians, health workers and aid workers, and those who are no longer participating, such as wounded, sick and shipwrecked soldiers and prisoners of war. The Conventions and their Protocols call for measures to be taken to prevent or put an end to all breaches. They contain stringent rules to deal with what are known as "grave breaches". Those who commit grave breaches must be pursued and tried or extradited, whatever their nationality. Recently many questions rose about its enforcement and effectiveness. In its latest challenges report released in 2019, the ICRC has emphasized that the biggest challenge to IHL is lack of respect for it. Efforts to enhance respect for IHL should be taken by all parties to armed conflict; by States, at the national, regional, and international level; and by all actors that can influence those involved in the fighting.

Question:

Discuss the legal mechanisms available to enforce IHL, including the specific obligations of states enriched in Common Article 1 to the Four Geneva Conventions. In your opinion, after 75 years, from a legal perspective, do the Four Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols still effectively protect the individuals they are intended to safeguard? What legal gaps, if any, exist in ensuring adequate protection under the aforementioned conventions.

In the digital era, the means and methods of warfare have evolved with an increasing number of digital risks that have the potential to exacerbate or change conflict dynamics and to increase the risk of intentional and unintended harm for affected populations. Cyberattacks could increase people's exposure to risk and vulnerabilities and contribute directly or indirectly to endangering civilian populations' safety or dignity. The evolution of such digital risks posed complex questions to the applicability of IHL, which, as some would argue, originally sought to regulate traditional warfare.

Question:

Critically analyze and discuss how does IHL prohibits misinformation, disinformation and hate speech and the applicability of IHL to cyberattacks. And what challenges may arise in ensuring compliance with IHL in the cyberspace?

Language:
The essay should be written in Arabic.

Eligibility Criteria: 
The competition will be on held for undergraduate law schools’ students in Jordan. 

Awards:

The first-place winner in each category will receive a certificate and 500 JOD

The second-place winner in each category will receive a certificate and 400 JOD

The third-place winner in each category will receive a certificate and 300 JOD

Deadline:
You are requested to send your essay to ihlessaycompetition@gmail.com by 30^th October 2024. 

Competition Rules:

Defending the Essay: As a precondition for their qualification, students whose essays are nominated for the first three places must discuss their essays with the jury.  

Font: Manuscripts should be submitted in Word format in 12 pt Times New Roman font with 1.5 line spacing (including for the footnotes).

Length: Manuscripts submitted should be minimum 3,000 and maximum 5,000 words, footnotes included.

Highlighting: No highlighting (bold, italics, underlined) should be used within the text body, except for italics for foreign language terms: e.g. a limine. Foreign organizations should not be set in italics.

I. Internet References:
For references available on the internet please indicate "available at:" followed by the full website link. The first internet reference should indicate the date of the last visit for all subsequent references. Example: ..., available at https://international-review.icrc.org/ (all internet references were accessed in March 2014).

II. The editorial basics
Dates: Use the following style: 1 February 1989.
Numerals: We use Arabic numbers, not Hindi. Numerals below 100 should be spelled out, except for ages, which should always be given in digits.