Thomas Graditzky

PhD Student
Research group: 
Centre de droit international (CDI)
Address: 
Campus du Solbosch
ULB CP137, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50
1050 BRUXELLES
Belgium
Telephone: 
+32 2 650 46 37
E-mail: 
Work Package(s): 
Research themes: 
International humanitarian law
Research project: 

The Belgian Contribution to the Development and Interpretation of the Law of Occupation, 1870-1950

The initial stage of the research focused on refining the object of the research, in particular on the basis of the first sources consulted, which were intentionally selected in order to cover the entire period taken into consideration. This period starts with the emergence of international humanitarian law as it is known today and the creation (in Belgium) of the Institute of International Law. It ends with the adoption of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the trials of war criminals that followed World War II (WWII). It includes, in particular, the two Peace Conferences in The Hague (1899 and 1907) and many concrete situations where Belgium was either occupied by or participating in the occupation of a foreign State (e.g. WWI [incl. Africa], the Ruhr, WWII, post-WWII Germany). The research is currently being conducted with a view to identifying further the shape and content of the law of occupation discourse in Belgium or in the concrete cases involving Belgium. The main track followed is to try to highlight, in a dynamic and dialectical perspective, how these framed later actions and positions expressed by Belgian actors and the impact this all had on the evolution of the law of occupation. Actors taken into account include national authorities, the judiciary, academics, clergymen, private institutions, etc. At this stage, it seems likely that the research will also show that their discourse, even if seemingly not perfectly consistent over time, had, as a general trend, a strong positivist note. An underlying idea of the current research is to look at the experience of the population of a small nation with powerful neighbours and occasional military projections abroad, and at how its contribution related to a search for better rules, for more justice, in a gradually globalised framework and on the background of the development of international law.

Picture: ©Cegesoma, image nr°169622 :lawyers in the courthouse of Ghent, 1941[Maes]

The Interuniversity Attraction Pole P7/22 "Justice & Populations: The Belgian Experience in International Perspective, 1795-2015" (BeJust 2.0) is part of the Interuniversity Attraction Poles Programme Phase VII (2012-2017), financed by the Belgian Science Policy Office of the Belgian State.

The IAP VII/22 Justice & Populations www.bejust.be is the outcome of a collaboration between the Cegesoma, the IAP coordination team (CHDJ-UCL) and the Royal Military Academy. Design: tangografix. Powered by Drupal