States have a legal obligation to ensure that the weapons that are newly developed, manufactured or produced for their own armed forces are compliant with international law. According to Article 36 of the 1977 Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, all States should conduct legal reviews of weapons at various stages in their manufacture or procurement. These reviews should be carried out by experts with a good understanding of the relevant legal provisions.

From 9-13 December 2019, the GCSP held the 9th edition of the Weapons Law and the Legal Review of Weapons, an executive course led by Dr William Boothby, Associate Fellow at GCSP, and Professor Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg, Law Professor at Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder).

The course provided 34 military legal advisors, officers from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and international experts with the knowledge and skills required to comply with Weapons Law. It taught international law on regulating weapons, general principles, existing treaty obligations and procedures to assess the legality of new weapons. The aim of the GCSP is to support States and other relevant actors to build their capacity to establish and execute internal review mechanisms in compliance with their international obligations.

According to participants, the course empowered them to:

• Understand international obligations currently applicable to States in the weapons’ domain;
• Better advise their Governments on the development or acquisition of new weapons;
• Effectively conduct a legal review of weapons;
• Develop new ideas for diplomatic initiatives related to weapons;
• More wisely argue when communicating on weapons-related issues with governmental officials;
• Efficiently start a new governmental position in the field of international humanitarian law.

“Attending the GCSP Weapons Law course was a great experience for me. The newly acquired knowledge was truly beneficial for getting a thorough grasp of international weapons law. The structure of the course and each session allowed me to gain practical skills for conducting legal reviews of weapons as course associates had the great opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions. I really enjoyed the tasks after every lecture and the discussion we held within the group and also the following deliberations between the different groups. During the course, I also met wonderful people from all over the world” – Weapons Law and the Legal Review of Weapons course participant, 2018.

GCSP is proud to empower States to implement their obligations and foster a better understanding of international law in the security realm through its Security and Law Programme. We will continue to engage the new GCSP alumni, and we wish them much success in their professional career.