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This outline is based on a course given at the State University in Moscow. Special thanks go to Andrey Raskin, Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Journalism, Moscow Lomonosov State University, and Stéphane Hankins, ICRC delegate.

See

Lesson 1: Origin and development of IHL

  • The origin and history of IHL
  • Henry Dunant’s role
  • Development of IHL and the Red Cross Movement before 1949

Lesson 2:

  • Basic provisions of IHL

Lesson 3:

  • The Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977

Lesson 4:

  • Changes in IHL after 1949
  • The changing nature of armed conflicts in the twentieth century

Lesson 5: IHL and the protection of victims of armed conflicts

  • Correlation between the provisions of IHL and International Human Rights Law

Lesson 6:

  • Provisions concerning the civilian population in IHL
  1. The protection of women and children
  2. The protection of refugees and displaced persons
  • Humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in situations of armed conflict

Lesson 7:

  • Provisions concerning prisoners of war in IHL
  • Rendering humanitarian assistance to prisoners of war and the wounded and sick

Lesson 8:

  • Protection of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked
  • Status of medical personnel in conflict zones

Lesson 9: The implication of IHL for the work of journalists in conflict zones

  • Consequences of violations of IHL
  • Collective responsibility of States for respect for the rules of IHL
  • The activities of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and perspective of the International Criminal Court

Lesson 10:

  • The activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Lesson 11: The work of journalists in conflict zones

  • Preparing journalists for missions in conflict zones
  • Journalists’ identity cards, clothes, symbols, identification signs

Lesson 12:

  • Determining the status of journalists in conflict zones
  • The procedure of accreditation in conflict zones
  • Movement in conflict zones
  • The use of armoured vests and other means of protection

Lesson 13:

  • Journalists’ conduct during bombardment or shelling
  • Journalists’ conduct in an inhabited locality during hostilities
  • Journalists’ conduct on the open ground during hostilities
  • Journalists’ conduct if arrested or captured

Lesson 14:

  • The problem of access to the sources of information
    • secret information, confidential information
  • The use of means of communication and ways of transmitting information to the editorial office
  • The main international institutions present in conflict zones and ways of establishing contact with them

Lesson 15: Role of the national media in an armed conflict

Lesson 16:

  • Role of the media to promote IHL
    • Dissemination
      • Role of the ICRC in promoting the basic tenets of IHL
      • Use of radio, television, newspapers
    • Mobilize public opinion
      • Against violations         
      • Behind international assistance efforts
    • Promote justice
      • Means to arrest people who have perpetrated war crimes

Lesson 17: Mass media coverage of armed conflicts and humanitarian issues

  • Ways and methods of covering armed conflicts in mass media
  • Coverage of the problems facing the civilian population in the conflict zone, refugees and displaced persons, prisoners of war, of humanitarian assistance, of the use of prohibited weapons, etc.

Lesson 18:

  • The role and responsibility of mass media when covering international and non-international armed conflicts
  • The issues of freedom of the press and ethical journalism in conflict zones

Lesson 19: Television and armed conflict

  • The role of television in covering armed conflicts and humanitarian issues in the second half of the twentieth century.
  • Legal regulations and ethical norms
  • Vietnam: “the first TV war”
  • CNN and its experience in covering armed conflicts
  • The second Gulf War (1999) and the role of the media
  • Kosovo: an armed conflict “live”
  • Afghanistan: CNN versus Al-Jazeera

Lesson 20: Journalism and armed conflicts: main problems at the start of the twenty-first century

  • The use of computer and television technologies to cover armed conflicts
  • The impact of journalism with regard to the changing nature of armed conflicts
  • Cooperation between journalists and representatives of non-governmental humanitarian organizations in conflict zones
  • Journalism and espionage