International humanitarian law in Colombia: Going a step beyond

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (912) ◽  
pp. 1117-1147
Author(s):  
Marcela Giraldo Muñoz ◽  
Jose Serralvo
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Unique Contribution ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
The Creation

AbstractEver since the first quarter of the nineteenth century, Colombia has shifted from one war to the next, be it the War of Independence, the fierce confrontations between liberal and conservative parties or the countless conflicts among guerrillas, paramilitary groups and the State. These wars have brought along a unique contribution to the development of international humanitarian law (IHL). The purpose of this article is to explore the myriad of ways in which Colombia has implemented (and at times made progress on) IHL rules, and to analyze how different conflicts have led the country to explore issues such as the protection of minors, the meaning of the principle of precaution, the compensation of armed conflict victims and the creation of some rather sophisticated transitional justice mechanisms.

14 Human Rights in Armed Conflict

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kleffner Jann K
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Relationship ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Individual

This chapter explains the application of human rights in armed conflicts. International humanitarian law has much in common with the law of human rights, since both bodies of rules are concerned with the protection of the individual. Nevertheless, there are important differences between them. Human rights law is designed to operate primarily in normal peacetime conditions, and governs the vertical legal relationship between a state and its citizens and other persons subject to its jurisdiction. Human rights law applies primarily within the territory of the state that is subject to the human rights obligation in question. International humanitarian law, by contrast, is specifically designed to regulate situations of armed conflict. These differences between human rights law and international humanitarian law have led some to argue that human rights law is only intended to be applicable in time of peace. However, it is now generally accepted that human rights continue to apply during armed conflict. Hence, international humanitarian law and human rights law can apply simultaneously in situations of armed conflict.

scholarly journals A legal obligation under international law to guarantee access to abortion services in contexts of armed conflict? An analysis of the case of Colombia

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Juliana Laguna Trujillo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Health And Human Rights ◽  
International Obligation ◽  
Women And Girls

Abstract This article discusses the existence of an international obligation for the State of Colombia to guarantee access to abortion services for women and girls who are victims of conflict-related sexual violence in the context of the Colombian armed conflict. By examining international humanitarian law rules from an international human rights law lens, it sets out the interdependence between both frameworks from reproductive health and human rights perspectives. Furthermore, the article provides considerations on the recognition and redress of these violations in the transitional justice scenario in Colombia.

Reflections on international humanitarian law and transitional justice: lessons to be learnt from the Latin American experience

2006 ◽  
Vol 88 (862) ◽  
pp. 327-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Salmón G.
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
American Experience ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
American States ◽  
Justice Process

Compliance with or violations of international humanitarian law during an armed conflict undoubtedly influence the conduct of the judiciary, the situations of the victims and the correlation of forces in the post-conflict society. This article seeks to determine the influence of international humanitarian law on the transitional justice process. The author examines the specific experience of certain Latin American states that have been deeply affected by serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law.

Urban Insurgency, 'Drug War' and International Humanitarian Law: The Case of Rio de Janeiro

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Peterke
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Rio De Janeiro ◽  
The State ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Drug War ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
The City

AbstractIn Rio de Janeiro so-called drug factions hold control over most of the shanty towns. The State has reacted by 'militarising' its police operations. The result is a humanitarian tragedy that has already cost the lives of thousands of Brazilian citizens. Many of those affected by the violence are of the opinion that the city has become the battlefield of a 'war'. This article addresses the issue of whether the legal concept of armed conflict could and should be applied to such situations.

Current Challenges to International Humanitarian Law

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Cassese
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The Creation

This chapter begins with a discussion of the role of Swiss banker Henry Dunant in the genesis of international humanitarian law (IHL). It then assesses the present deficiencies of IHL. This is followed by a discussion of ways to mitigate the devastating effects of armed conflict. It proposes a three-pronged strategy involving the establishment of non-binding guidelines, the creation of effective monitoring mechanisms, and the adoption of mechanisms to indemnify victims of serious violations.

scholarly journals Domestic measures during peace time for the implementation of International Humanitarian Law (IHL)

IIUC Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-126
Author(s):  
Mohammad Saidul Islam
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
The State ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Geneva Conventions

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is frequently neglected by the Parties to the Geneva Conventions during armed conflict (AC). In the contemporary world, IHL has been facing a great threat due to lack of proper implementation which resulted in the severe wounds, unnecessary sufferings, superfluous injury, and even death to the civilians, children, women, and combatants in and outside the armed field. For the implementation of IHL, it is essential that States must take proper steps during peace, conflict, and post-conflict time. The article presents the various mechanisms of implementation of IHL need to be taken by the States during the time of peace. It also focuses the most significant peace time steps sought to be taken by the State to make the IHL rules familiar to the civilians and combatant, to ensure the availability of the necessary instrumentalities for using those during AC for protection and minimization of the sufferings of the victims and to enact essential legislation for trial of the violators after the end of the conflict. IIUC Studies Vol.14(2) December 2017: 111-126

Binding Armed Opposition Groups

2006 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 369-394 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandesh Sivakumaran
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Third Parties ◽  
The State ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Internal Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Opposition Groups

AbstractThis article considers how armed opposition groups fighting in an internal armed conflict are bound by the rules of international humanitarian law despite not being party to the relevant treaties. It assesses a number of explanations—customary international law, general principles of international humanitarian law, rules governing treaties and third parties and claims to succession—and argues that each has limited value. The ability of the state to legislate on behalf of all its individuals is considered the best explanation. This principle is explored and objections to it are countered. This article also examines the expressed commitment of armed opposition groups to the rules of international humanitarian law.

Part Two Rights, 7 The Rights of Victims and Transitional Justice

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Espinosa Manuel José Cepeda ◽  
Landau David
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Internal Armed Conflict ◽  
The Government ◽  
Sentence Reductions

Because of the scope and duration of Colombia’s internal armed conflict, that conflict has produced much suffering in the civilian population. This chapter focuses on the Court’s jurisprudence protecting the rights of victims, especially of the internal armed conflict. In this area, the incorporation of international law has been particularly important. Drawing on this jurisprudence, the Court has insisted that victims be given rights to truth, justice, and reparations. The contours of this right have proven particularly important in processes in which the government has sought to give amnesties or sentence reductions in return for participation in the peace process by illegal armed groups, first with paramilitaries and now with guerrilla groups. In reviewing these frameworks, the Court has sought to create criteria that are flexible while retaining the core restrictions of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

A la guerre comme à la guerre: patterns of armed conflict, humanitarian law responses and new challenges

2006 ◽  
Vol 88 (864) ◽  
pp. 729-756 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luc Reydams
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Continuous Transformation ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Multilateral Treaties

AbstractContinuous transformation of armed conflict since the adoption in 1864 of the first international humanitarian law treaty compels international humanitarian law to adapt accordingly. These adaptations, through either customary law or new multilateral treaties, always have been towards greater protection, greater reach. As for treaty practice, international humanitarian law historically has been substantially revised every twenty-five to thirty years. This article links those revisions to specific conflicts which laid bare deficiencies in the existing law. What follows is thus a chronicle of conflicts with their most critical humanitarian issues. From this emerges a picture of the changing face of armed conflict since the middle of the nineteenth century. The article also considers recent challenges to international humanitarian law and speculates on possible responses.

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.

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