The proliferation of armed conflicts has put the application of humanitarian law and human rights regimes to the test. The practical application of jus ad bellum all too often shows the limitations of the United Nations system as regards political control of the use of force by the Security Council. But it is the present limits of jus in bello that pose greater difficulties.
Increasingly frequent 'classic' violations of humanitarian law are accompanied by the inadequacies of the international legal framework in monitoring the new technological realities, whether it be cyber aggression or the use of drones to eliminate people and destroy property or the emergence of killer robots as lethal autonomous weapons. In contrast to this situation, several States have given themselves universal criminal jurisdiction to try violations of humanitarian law at the same time as the International Criminal Court has developed an ambitious case law with regard to the various types of criminal law that make up the Rome Statute.
The Post Graduation in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights in Conflict situations is taught in partnership between the European Institute of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon, the National Defence Institute and the ICJP - Institute of Legal and Political Sciences.