Upcoming events

International Law and the Regulation of Resort to Force: Exhaustion, Destruction, Rebirth? (14 - 15 September 2023)

The Centre for International Humanitarian and Operational Law at the Faculty of Law of Palacký University, in collaboration with the Institute for International Law and International Relations at the Faculty of Law of the University of Graz, are accepting papers and panel proposals for a conference to take place on 14–15 September 2023 in Olomouc, the Czech Republic. The conference will examine selected issues pertaining to the jus ad bellum. The conference will also include selected poster submissions on the teaching of international law on the use of force.

Call for papers/panels/posters and all relevant information is available at: www.force.upol.cz

Past Conferences and Events

• The best practices and experience in countering foreign interference (CFI) in U. S. Academia (Olomouc, 23 January 2023)
  • US American experts Dr Glenn D. Tiffert (Research Fellow, Co-Chair – Project on China´s Global Shar Power, Stanford University) and Dr Kevin R. Gamache (Associate Vice Chancellor and Chief Research Security Officer, Texas A&M University System) explored in the lecture the topic of countering foreign interference in academia, including best practices and US experience in this field. 
• Roundtable on International Sanctions in the Context of Russian Aggression (Olomouc, 25 November 2022, hybrid event)
  • CIHOL hosted a roundtable on International Sanctions in the Context of Russian Aggression. Five guests gathered over a common topic: Otakar Foltýn, Chief of the Military Police and member of CIHOL, Magdaléna Plevová, legal expert from the Financial Analysis Office, Karel Svoboda, expert in political economy, Michael Romancov, expert in geopolitics, and Petr Stejskal, member of CIHOL and the main organizer of the event. If you are interested in what the sanctions are for, how they are applied and how they affect Russia, listen to the recording of the discussion (available in Czech):
• Legal, Political and Security Dynamics of the Conflict in Northern Mozambique (Olomouc, 17 March 2022)
  • The workshop, organized by CIHOL member Marko Svicevic, examined selected legal, political and security aspects of the conflict. These include the background to the conflict and the dynamics of the insurgency, the political landscape of the sub-region, the relationship between the insurgency and IS, the involvement of private military companies (Wagner Group), and implications of the jus ad bellum and jus in bellow on the conflict.
• ICC´s Contribution to the Development and Enforcement of International Humanitarian Law (conference, 11 – 12 February 2021)
• Responding to hybrid threats by force (conference, 23 - 24 May 2018)
• Healthcare in Danger: Central European Perspective (conference, 11 - 12 May 2017)

Law of Armed Conflicts and Use of Force

Use of force in international relations is a topic omnipresent in the media, international practice and academic writing. More importantly, as its prohibition by a peremptory norm of international law shows, it is an aspect of utmost importance for the existence international community. Nevertheless, the international legal foundations of the use of force are being constantly challenged, which makes participation in an academic course focusing on questions of the use of force (ius ad/contra bellum) and laws applicable when there is a war (ius in bello) an interesting, but at the same time also a challenging undertaking. The course therefore aims at introducing students to major aspects of international law on the prohibition of use of force and the law of armed conflict (LOAC). Students who have successfully completed this course should have a sound knowledge of and understand the prohibition of the use of force and its exceptions, as well as the current debates on some major aspects of this topic. Students should also gain basic knowledge of historical developments of the law of armed conflict, understand thoroughly relevant international treaties and the scope of application of LOAC, and finally have an appreciation of some of the contemporary debates which have occurred in the context of recent conflicts (such as Crimea, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan).

The course is taught in English and regularly includes lectures from national and international experts from academia and practice, including the Army of the Czech Republic.

International Humanitarian Law

The course (taught in Czech language) offers to students a thorough presentation of the law of armed conflict, with the aim to provide a critical analysis based on a rounded understanding of major aspects of international law principles and legal concepts relating to the conduct of warfare and protection of victims of war. Students will gain basic knowledge of historical developments of the law of armed conflict, understand thoroughly relevant international treaties (especially the four Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols) and the scope of application of LOAC, and finally have an appreciation of some of the contemporary debates which have occurred in the context of recent conflicts (Iraq, Libya). Some of the lectures are presented by representatives of the Army of the Czech Republic and the Czech Red Cross.

International Criminal Law

The aim of this one semester course is to provide students with knowledge in one of the most progressive discipline of public international law. The course is focused on the position of international criminal law within the system of public international law, on the history of international criminal law reflected in foundation of even more perfect institutions (IMT, IMTFE, ICTY, ICTR, ICC) and especially on the current substantive and procedural regulation used at international forum, which is from its major part embodied in the Rome Statute of ICC. Integral part of the course is the analysis of some leading cases in international criminal law (Tadic, Miloševic, Akayesu, Dyilo etc.) The course describes the effort of international community to prosecute and punish the perpetrators of the most serious violations of international law both at international and municipal level. The course is held in English.

Upcoming guest lectures

Past guest lectures

• University of Minnesota Law School´s “Crash the Course” Series - The Laws of War (07 December 2022)
  • Petr Stejskal and Martin Faix were guest speakers in the University of Minnesota Law School´s “Crash the Course” Series - The Laws of War. The lecture was a great opportunity to present CIHOL (by Martin Faix), one of the Centre´s research topics - protection of foreign investments in armed conflicts (lecture given by Petr Stejskal), and to interact with Prof. Ní Aoláin and her class.