International Humanitarian Law and Non-State Actors: A Contradiction of Terms?

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-430
Author(s):  
Roberta Arnold
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
State Actors

There seems to have been a shift in the state-centric vision of international relations, following the increasing role of non-state actors (NSAs) on the international scene, particularly in the context of armed conflicts. Ezequiel Heffes, Marcos Kotlik and Manuel Ventura, editors of International Humanitarian Law and Non-State Actors, present through this collection of contributions an overview of legal issues arising from this new reality. The editors draw on their personal experience to explain how NSAs contribute to the development of international humanitarian law (IHL) and to suggest that in order to promote respect for IHL by all parties involved in an armed conflict, this new role should be given due consideration from a legal standpoint. The review aims to confront critically the position taken in the volume, assessing the pros and cons of an increased recognition (and potential legitimisation) of NSAs, with a particular focus on non-state armed groups. It discusses, in particular, the implications of this process for the exercise of sovereign rights and respect for fundamental guarantees, especially in relation to the powers to detain and to adjudicate.

scholarly journals The role of international humanitarian law in the search for peace: Lessons from Colombia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-16
Author(s):  
César Rojas-Orozco
Keyword(s):  
Legal Framework ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Peace Agreement ◽  
Peace Negotiations ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract International humanitarian law (IHL) has traditionally been seen as a legal framework regulating armed hostilities, having little to do with peace. However, recent peacemaking and peacebuilding practice has consistently relied on IHL to frame peace efforts, mainly in non-international armed conflicts. This article explores the relationship between IHL and peace, looking at practice in Colombia, where IHL has been used in a creative way as a means to build trust, facilitate peace negotiations and enforce the resulting peace agreement. Looking at this case, the article offers general insights on how IHL can facilitate the end of conflict and reintegration, frame accountability and reparation, and shield peace deals under a framework in which both State and non-State actors can find a common bargaining zone in their search for peace.

scholarly journals Humanitarian Access in conditions Armed Conflict: The International Legal Aspect

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 26-30
Author(s):  
Marina Rylskaya
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Current System ◽  
Legal Aspect ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Peace And Security

The article reveals a number of legal issues related to humanitarian assistance; some of them are being regulated from the point of view of International Humanitarian Law. It is also stressed that the current system of international relations is not always capable of maintaining peace and security, which leads to the shift of the international community's efforts from the level of forceful resolution of conflicts to the format of humanitarian Cooperation.

International humanitarian law's old questions and new perspectives: On what law has got to do with armed conflict

2016 ◽  
Vol 98 (903) ◽  
pp. 995-1017
Author(s):  
Thomas Forster
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Current Understanding ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
State Behaviour ◽  
The Law ◽  
A Current

AbstractThe question of whether international humanitarian law (IHL) has an impact on how armed conflicts are conducted is a controversial one. Sceptics claim that the law is virtually irrelevant in determining State behaviour in armed conflict. Proponents point to its importance in mitigating the suffering caused by war. This paper looks at recent scholarship from historians, political scientists, economists and lawyers that challenges traditional narratives held dear by the law's sceptics and proponents alike. It then discusses implications of these approaches for a current understanding of the role of IHL in today's armed conflicts. The new perspectives allow for a broader understanding of IHL's central issues and permit us to ask more pertinent questions when looking at the law with the aim of putting it to use for the protection of civilians.

scholarly journals Protection of Children Participating in Hostilities under International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law: Issues of Compliance by Non-State Actors

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 66-72
Author(s):  
Sana Taha Gondal ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Provisions ◽  
State Actors ◽  
Indirect Part

Children enjoy legal protection under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. In situations of armed conflict, children are granted not only general protection as civilians, but special protection as children. Several legal provisions exist in the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols, along with the Convention on the Rights of Child and its Second Optional Protocol on Children in Armed Conflicts. However, despite the current legal framework providing protective rights to children, there are serious issues of compliance by non-state actors, particularly in reference to inducting and using child soldiers. This highlights several legal challenges to international humanitarian law vis a vis the diminished protection of children taking direct part in hostilities. This article discusses the current legal regime protecting children in armed conflict, who take direct and indirect part in hostilities. Thereafter, an analysis is made of situations of international and non-international armed conflicts and the difference in protections accorded to these children, respectively. Lastly, an analysis is made of the compliance mechanisms that may be developed for non-state actors under international humanitarian law to prevent recruitment of children for taking direct or indirect part in hostilities. The issues of compliance by non-state actors and possible responses to such challenges are also addressed.

Hybrid Conflict and Prisoners of War

2018 ◽  
pp. 191-222
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Kahn
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
War And Peace ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Law ◽  
Hybrid War ◽  
First Time

The conflicts in eastern Ukraine and Crimea are not the first time sovereign States have clashed under murky and confused circumstances. The law governing international armed conflict, i.e. the law regulating war between States, has long recognized this fact; the threshold to trigger it is a very low one, and it applies “even if the state of war is not recognized by one of them.” Nevertheless, some perceive Ukraine as a case of “hybrid war” for which the old rules are ill-fitting at best, and no longer capable of regulation or restraint. What happens to international humanitarian law (IHL) when, according to Russian General Valériy Gerasimov, the hybrid nature of recent conflicts produces a “tendency to erase differences between the states of war and peace?” This chapter argues that there are in fact two distinct armed conflicts ongoing in eastern Ukraine. First, there is an ongoing but unacknowledged international armed conflict (IAC) in eastern Ukraine between Ukraine and Russia. Second, there is also fighting sufficiently intense and involving sufficiently organized non-State actors to be considered a non-international armed conflict (NIAC) between the Ukrainian State and rebel forces in Donetsk and Luhansk. Adding another layer of complexity, at certain times and places, it may be that this NIAC might have transformed into an IAC because of Russia’s overall control of these non-State actors.

The Temporal Scope of the Laws of Armed Conflict in Multinational Military Operations

2019 ◽  
pp. 49-69
Author(s):  
Christian Schaller
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Military Operations ◽  
Asymmetric Conflict ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Law Of Armed Conflict ◽  
Degree Of Stability ◽  
State Actors

The chapter explores the temporal scope of the law of armed conflict in multinational military operations. In particular, it is discussed under which conditions armed conflicts begin and terminate as a matter of international humanitarian law (IHL). Asymmetric conflict structures, fluctuating levels of violence, and the involvement of a multitude of state and non-state actors who enter and leave the battlefield at different stages during the hostilities make it especially difficult to determine the end of an armed conflict. Often, periods of intense fighting alternate with periods of relative calm. It is therefore argued that two requirements should be satisfied before an armed conflict within the meaning of IHL ought to be considered over: the situation must fall below a certain qualitative threshold separating the armed conflict from the post-conflict phase; and the threshold must be crossed with a degree of stability and permanence.

To Serve the Enemy

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Darcy
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Potential Role ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Rules And Principles

The use of informers and other collaborators by parties to an armed conflict is a common yet often concealed practice in times of war. Despite the prevalence of such activity, and the serious and at times fatal consequences that befall those who collaborate with an enemy, international law applicable in times of armed conflict does not squarely address the phenomenon. The recruitment, use, and treatment of informers and other collaborators is addressed only partially and at times indirectly by international humanitarian law. While international law recognises the widespread and enduring phenomenon of individuals cooperating with an opposing side during an armed conflict, it treats it with some ambivalence. The lawfulness of resort to the practice is generally accepted in principle, yet international law seeks to place certain limits, including restrictions on the methods employed in the recruitment, use, and treatment of informers and other collaborators during armed conflict. This book examines the development and application of the relevant rules and principles of the laws of armed conflict in relation to collaboration. The author focuses primarily on international humanitarian law as applicable to various forms of collaboration but also provides an assessment of the potential role of international human rights law. The book examines the law and practice concerning the phenomenon of collaboration during both international and non-international armed conflicts.

Armed Non-State Actors and Cultural Heritage in Armed Conflict

2017 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 407-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Lostal ◽  
Kristin Hausler ◽  
Pascal Bongard
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Research Interviews ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Impact

Abstract:This article presents the preliminary findings of a scoping study that Geneva Call is conducting to understand the existing dynamics between armed non-state actors (ANSAs) and cultural heritage. Geneva Call is a Swiss-based non-governmental organization dedicated to promoting the respect of international humanitarian law by ANSAs. The study centres on three case studies—Syria, Iraq, and Mali—on which information has been obtained through desk and field research, interviews with ANSAs operating in those countries, and with leading organizations committed to the protection of cultural heritage, globally or regionally. The article first maps the various attitudes of ANSAs toward cultural heritage, highlighting both positive and negative examples from current practices. Then it analyzes the response of specialized organizations to the impact of ANSAs on cultural heritage and their level of engagement with these actors on cultural heritage issues. Finally, the conclusion offers some tentative recommendations to enhance the respect of cultural heritage by ANSAs in non-international armed conflicts.

The regulation of non-international armed conflicts: Can a privilege of belligerency be envisioned in the law of non-international armed conflicts?

2014 ◽  
Vol 96 (893) ◽  
pp. 29-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claus Kreβ ◽  
Frédéric Mégret
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Jus In Bello ◽  
The Creation ◽  
State Actors ◽  
The Law

The Debate section of the Review aims to contribute to reflection on contemporary questions of humanitarian law, policy or action. In this issue of the Review, we invited two experts in international humanitarian law (IHL) – Claus Kreβ and Frédéric Mégret – to debate on how IHL applicable in non-international armed conflict (NIAC) should develop. In the two pieces that follow, Professor Kreβ submits for debate a new norm of international law outlawing NIACs – a jus contra bellum internum – with a corresponding set of rules applicable in NIACs – a jus in bello interno. The jus in bello interno would give the “privilege of belligerency” – akin to combatants' privilege in international armed conflicts – to non-State actors in NIACs, providing an incentive for them to comply with these new rules of civil war. Frédéric Mégret critically examines the proposed privilege of belligerency, pointing out its problematic aspects and positing that the creation of such a privilege is, in fact, not desirable.

Applying Additional Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions to the United Nations Forces

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 234-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Artem Sergeev
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Legal Issues ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The Third ◽  
Additional Protocol ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Hostile Environments

Following the widespread participation of United Nations (UN) forces in hostile environments, this article aims to expand the obligations of the UN under International Humanitarian Law. The article argues that Additional Protocol II (AP II) to the Geneva Conventions can bind UN forces, even though the UN is not formally a party thereto. The argument is built on three distinct legal issues: the first issue is whether the UN’s involvement in a conflict internationalizes a non-international armed conflict; the second issue is the legal nature of the UN’s obligations under AP II, which will be explained through two legal theories of indirect consent; and the third issue is the conformity of UN forces to the criteria of an armed group outlined in AP II. The article concludes that if UN forces meet certain conditions, as will be outlined herein, they should be bound by the provisions contained in AP II.

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