Law and the Future of War
Through conversation with experts in technology, law and military affairs, this series explores how new military technology and international law interact. Edited and produced by Dr Lauren Sanders and Dr Simon McKenzie, the podcast is published by the Asia-Pacific Institute for Law and Security. Until July 2024, the podcast was published by the University of Queensland School of Law.
Note: the views expressed in this podcast are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of any other organisation (such as Government, or Departments of Defence), unless the speaker specifically attributes their comments to that organisation.
Law and the Future of War
The Geneva Conventions at sea - André Smit (ICRC)
As part of the 75th anniversary series on the Gevena Conventions, Lauren Sanders speaks to André Smit - the ICRC Regional Legal Adviser on Maritime Matters (Asia-Pacific) when he visited Australia in September 2024. They discuss the applicability of Geneva Convention II (GC II) on the Amerlioraton to the region and challenges for states in applying their obligations under GC II in the event of a maritime conflict in the region.
André supports the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Asia and the Pacific region from the ICRC Regional Resources Network (RRN) in Thailand. The role focusses on advancing the regional understanding of international humanitarian law applicable to armed conflict at sea, strengthening the application of other legal protection regimes at sea, supporting the work of other ICRC métiers and ICRC Delegations on related files, and supporting the ICRC institutional thinking on its future positioning in Asia and the Pacific.
His work experience includes practising law; serving as officer in the South African National Defence Force; and service in the South African Foreign Ministry as counsel to Government on International Law. In the military, he served at unit-, training-, Joint Operations-, and Defence Headquarters-levels retiring as a senior officer supporting policy and international law. He provided operational legal support to operations and supported the force preparation of naval infantry, maritime air operations squadrons (helicopter and fixed wing), the submarine service. The culmination of his time as an instructor was serving as Director of the Departmental Course on International Humanitarian Law. After military service, as State Law Adviser (International Law) in the foreign Ministry, he fulfilled legal and diplomatic functions (at the level of counsellor), represented the Government in various bilateral and multilateral diplomatic forums, and co-drafted South Africa’s submissions to the International Court of Justice. He was a long-standing member of the South African National Committee on International Humanitarian Law. He lectured at various universities and other training institutions on topics including air and space law, law of the sea, the interfaces of human rights and international humanitarian law in military operations, and at different diplomatic academies with minor publications on related topics of maritime operations.