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It is commonplace to say that we live in an age of instantaneous information and communication. During the occupation of Iraq by the United States and its allies, pictures taken in the Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad and showing members of the US Armed Forces and Iraqi detainees in disgraceful circumstances could be seen within minutes all over the world. The message carried by those pictures changed the discourse on the Iraq war of 2003–2004.We have become used to instant information through real-time reporting on events occurring in the various corners of the world. This flow of news is taken for granted, and we expect our favourite radio or TV station to deliver the latest news at every moment of the day. Seeing pictures taken inside a well-guarded prison in a war a few thousand kilometres away is no longer a surprise.Wars have always attracted writers eager to report on what happens when men fight against men. Some of these reports have become immortal works of world literature. Some may even have influenced the course of history. Only a few memorable examples are Homer's epic poem on the fall of Troy, Julius Caesar'sDe bello gallicoor the Indian epicMahabharata. On a different level, who knows that Winston Churchill, at the age of 25, was a war correspondent reporting from the Boer War in 1899?An accidental war correspondent deserves to be mentioned here, Henry Dunant, who happened to witness the aftermath of a particularly murderous battle, the Battle of Solferino in northern Italy in 1859.

The territory of Western Sahara has an area of about 280,000 sq. km and approximately 250,000 inhabitants, known as Sahrawis. It is situated in the north-west of the African continent, where the Sahara Desert meets the Atlantic Ocean, and has a coastline of more than 1,000 km. In the north, Western Sahara has a common border of 443 km with Morocco, and in the south and west it is bordered by Mauritania (1,561 km). The territory also has a short common border of 42 km with Algeria. The climate is predominantly that of the desert: hot and dry in summer, cold in winter, with little or no rainfall. In the coastal regions vegetation may be abundant. While the Sahrawis were originally nomads, most of the population now lives in small towns and villages. The economy is based on agriculture and fishing, primarily destined for local consumption. Rich phosphate deposits are the main export commodity. There seem to be oil deposits off the Atlantic coast.

Terrorism is said to be a substitute for conventional — or classic — warfare. And the response to terrorism is now called a 'war on terrorism'. Acts of terrorism have always been with us and so has war. Since time immemorial, warfare has been subject to legal regulations: the laws of war. Their foundations can be retraced to age-old practices established to mitigate the effects of recourse to violence when conflicts could not be resolved by peaceful means. These rules used to belong to customs observed by belligerents as a matter of course. Today, international treaties are the main source of the rules governing humanitarian aspects of the conduct of war: the Geneva Conventions for the protection of war victims of 12 August 1949 and their two Additional Protocols of 1977. Is international humanitarian law relevant to the horrors of modern warfare and, in particular, to terrorism? And does it sufficiently take into account the interest of states in combating terrorism?

À l'issue de la Conférence diplomatique sur la réaffirmation et le développement du droit international humanitaire, les représentants des États parties aux Conventions de Genève du 12 août 1949 ont adopté, le 8 juin 1977, deux Protocoles additionnels à ces Conventions. Après une période préparatoire et des negotiations intenses qui ont duré près de dix ans, les nouveaux traités humanitaires ont été acceptés par les plénipotentiaires sans vote ni opposition, malgré des obstacles considérables à surmonter. Même si les solutions trouvées pour des problèmes particulièrement controversés ne pouvaient pas toujours satisfaire tout les intérêts, les diplomates, conseillers juridiques et experts militaires avaient quand même toutes les raisons de regagner leurs capitales respectives avec un sentiment de satisfaction.

Al término de la Conferencia Diplomótica sobre la reafirmación y el desarrollo del derecho internacional humanitario, los representantes de los Estados Partes en los Convenios de Ginebra del 12 de agosto de 1949 aprobaron, el 8 de junio de 1977, dos Protocolos adicionales a esos Convenios. Tras un período de preparatión e intensas negociaciones, que duraron casi una década, los nuevos tratados humanitarios fueron aceptados por los plenipotenciarios sin votación ni oposiciones, a pesar de los considerables obstáculos que tuvieron que superarse. Aunque las soluciones dadas a problemas especialmente polémicos no podrían satisfacer siempre todos los intereses, los diplomáticos, los asesores jurídicos y los expertos militares tenían muchos motivos para regresar satisfechos a sus respectivas capitales.Sin embargo, tras la clausura de la Conferencia había que abordar la etapa de la firma y la ratificación de los textos (o la adhesión a ellos) por los Estados. Es decir, era menester que los Estados aceptaran como era debido las nuevas obligaciones codificadas por los dos Protocolos adicionales y que se comprometieran a respetarlos, tanto en tiempo de paz como en período de conflicto armado.