Compensation for Damages during Armed Conflict

This episode of the “Völkerrechtliche Tagesthemen” with the speaker Steven van de Put focuses on the increasing practice of states compensating individuals during armed conflict. The presenter highlights specifically the increase of the use of so-called ex-gratia payments. Through the use of ex-gratia payments, states have engaged with the population to compensate damages that are not the result of international humanitarian law (short: IHL).
In this light it is discussed that this contemporary practice demonstrates that even after such an initial payment, victims have still attempted to gain reparations arguing that the actions of the state were in fact in violation of IHL. Afterwards the presentation focuses on exploring some of the legal issues regarding such a claim and how these two notions would interact with each other.