Fergal Keane is a Special Correspondent for BBC News. He has reported from many of the world's major trouble spots, from Northern Ireland to Rwanda and Iraq, attracted widespread critical acclaim and won a string of awards for his reports. Among many other prizes, he was named Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society Awards (1995). He also took the Amnesty International Television Award for his 1994 Panorama report “Journey into Darkness” — an account of the genocide in Rwanda and the Index on Censorship prize for journalistic integrity. He won the George Orwell prize for his book on the Rwandan genocide “Season Of Blood.”

The authors draw upon the principles of the social identity tradition in order to elaborate a psychological model of mass communication. This centres on the way in which people construe their social identities and the meanings of events for these identities. They then go on to look at the ways in which these principles have been employed both to mobilize collective support for genocide and collective resistance to genocide. They conclude that it is critical to understand these principles and to apply them effectively in order to promote social harmony and the defence of vulnerable groups.

The article reviews recentfindings on the quality of war reporting, the conditions under which it takes place, the information policies of the warring parties and their effects. Focusing on German media coverage of the 1991 Gulf war, the Kosovo war and the 2003 Iraq war, it discusses both typical shortcomings of reporting and recent improvements, highlights information control strategies and proposes standards for war reporting.

To consider the relationship between war and the media is to look at the way in which the media are involved in conflict, either as targets (war on the media) or as an auxiliary (war thanks to the media). On the basis of this distinction, four major developments may be cited that today combine to make war above all a media spectacle: photography, which opened the door to manipulation through stage-management; live technologies, which raise the question of journalists' critical distance vis-à-vis the material they broadcast and which can facilitate the process of using them; pressure on the media and media globalization, which have led to a change in the way the political and military authorities go about making propaganda; and, finally, the fact that censorship has increasingly come into disrepute, which has prompted the authorities to think of novel ways of controlling journalists.

The phenomenon of 24-hour global coverage of world events has arguably made it more difficult for journalists to remain true to the deontology of their profession. At the same time, humanitarians are at pains to defend the concept of neutral independent action in armed conflicts that have global reverberations. Moral dilemma is often the order of the day for those who have to report on increasingly complex emergencies in war zones or to attempt to alleviate the suffering of victims. With examples from recent conflicts, this article asks whether there are ways in which journalists and humanitarians can contribute to saving lives.

The article studies the public communication strategies of large humanitarian NGOs as well as UN organizations with regard to the humanitarian principles. It shows that different strategies concerning impartiality vs. solidarity and independence vs. subcontracting cause a wide diversity of humanitarian positions, which lead to different types of public communication strategies. It also discusses several recent trends and three scenarios concerning humanitarian public communication, focusing on interaction with donors and the military, as well as the security situation on the ground. The article concludes that it is essential for humanitarian organizations to understand the different interpretations of the humanitarian principles and that this will help in establishing a strategic approach toward public communication at headquarters, as well as in the field.

The environment in which the ICRC works and communicates is constantly changing. The ICRC is also constantly seeking support that will allow it to gain access to victims, carry out its work, generate the diplomatic and financial backing needed for that work and ensure the safety of its delegates. The primary aim of communication is not merely to pass on messages from the organization effectively. It is just as necessary to understand the issues concerning the various audiences and how they perceive those issues as it is to inform them. The ICRC draws on a wide array of communication strategies and resources, depending on their complementarity and their potential impact, ranging from meetings with local armed groups to the use of mass communication tools. Communication is thus an integral part of the ICRC's decision-making process, both at headquarters and in each context in the field.

“The understanding of war among people who have not experienced war is now chiefly a product of the impact of […] images.” Some images have marked our memories and others shape our opinions by appealing to our emotions. The impact of images can be very far-reaching. “In contrast to a written account — which, depending on its complexity of thought, reference, and vocabulary, is pitched at a larger or smaller readership a photograph has only one language and is destined potentially for all.”

This article analyses recurring misconceptions about the questioning of prisoners of war. The author takes a two fold approach, first considering matters relating to the identification of prisoners of war, namely contemporary issues such as the use of modern identification techniques, and then discussing interrogation procedures that go beyond the establishment of a prisoner's identity. In this context particular attention is given to the question whether and, if so, at which point in time a prisoner of war starts to benefit from fair trial rights, namely the right to remain silent, the right not to incriminate oneself and the corresponding right to be informed about these fair trial protections.

The debates over the relationship between International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law, have often focused on the question of whether human rights law continues to apply during armed conflict, and if so, on how these two bodies of law can complement each other. This article takes the continuing applicability of human rights law as an accepted and welcome starting point, and proceeds to lay out some of the challenges and obstacles encountered during the joint application of IHL and Human Rights Law, that still need to be addressed. These include extra-territorial applicability of human rights law; the mandate and expertise of human rights bodies; terminological and conceptual differences between the bodies of law; particular difficulties raised in non-international armed conflicts; and the question of economic, social and cultural rights during armed conflict.

The Council of Delegates,

reaffirming the undertaking of all States and parties engaged in armed conflict to respect and ensure respect for international humanitarian law,

recognizing the importance of working toward the universal ratification of treaties on international humanitarian law,

considering the continued importance of customary international humanitarian law in the light of the fact that not all humanitarian treaties have been universally ratified,

noting that treaty law governing non-international armed conflicts is not well developed although these conflicts predominate today,

recalling Resolution 1 of the 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and the mandate entrusted to the ICRC to prepare a study on customary rules of international humanitarian law applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts,

noting with great appreciation the extensive efforts undertaken by the ICRC to prepare this study in accordance with the above-mentioned mandate,

1. welcomes the study on customary international humanitarian law published by the ICRC as an important contribution to the protection of war victims;

2. recommends the study to all components of the Movement as a basis for discussion, where relevant, with national authorities, armed forces, academic circles and parties to an armed conflict;

3. invites National Societies, to the extent of their capacities, to disseminate the findings of the study as widely as possible.