New course on armed conflict

Law of Armed Conflict, with emphasis on maritime operations (JUS296-2-A) is a new post graduate course. It will begin in autumn semester 2021 at The Faculty of Law, University of Bergen (UiB).

The course will focus on how the law functions in challenging situations, when it is necessary to regulate between powerful claimants – nation states –when they may feel pressed against a wall. Even in such situations, most nation states have accepted being bound by regulations in armed conflicts.

“The course will provide students with an opportunity to study the extreme limits of the law,” says Professor Knut Einar Skodvin, who developed the course. Skodvin is the leader of the Research Group for Public International Law.

“It is also a very interesting field of law, academically speaking. We need clear and precise laws that are easy to practice. But at the same time we need deep ethical reflections on how humans are affected by war.”

The course will particularly focus on military maritime operations. According to Skodvin, this is natural from a Norwegian point of view, as from a military perspective, Norway is dependent on allied reinforcement. In a large scale military scenario, the maritime area will be of great importance.

“In military actions, the oceans play a central role in moving forces, and as a starting point for operations, as well as for controlling access to supplies. It is very important to build and maintain a knowledge base on this aspect of armed conflicts,” Knut Einar Skodvin adds.