A North American Perspective
The chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of the overlap of the laws of armed conflict and international human rights law from a North American perspective. It adds a regionally focused analysis of the US and Canadian approach to the relationship of IHRL and LOAC in extraterritorial, multinational operations. The chapter explains why exclusionary approaches are favoured both in Northern America and Europe. The United States and Canada apply international humanitarian law while Europe privileges human rights law. These approaches are impacted by the lack of a regional human rights tribunal exerting jurisdiction in these North American countries, their common law roots, as well as the involvement of Canada and the US militaries in expeditionary operations. However, it is evident that military forces, regardless of whether they are deployed from Europe or North America, must apply human rights law as they confront the contemporary insurgent and terrorist threats.