Emerging Trend in Applying International Human Rights Law to Armed Non-State Actors Beyond the State-Centric System

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pushparajah Nadarajah
Author(s):  
Paul David Mora

SummaryIn its recent decision in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v Italy: Greece Intervening), the International Court of Justice (ICJ) held that Italy had failed to respect immunities enjoyed by Germany under international law when the Italian courts allowed civil actions to be brought against Germany for alleged violations of international human rights law (IHRL) and the law of armed conflict (LOAC) committed during the Second World War. This article evaluates the three arguments raised by Italy to justify its denial of immunity: first, that peremptory norms of international law prevail over international rules on jurisdictional immunities; second, that customary international law recognizes an exception to immunity for serious violations of IHRL or the LOAC; and third, that customary international law recognizes an exception to immunity for torts committed by foreign armed forces on the territory of the forum state in the course of an armed conflict. The author concludes that the ICJ was correct to find that none of these arguments deprived Germany of its right under international law to immunity from the civil jurisdiction of the Italian courts.


Author(s):  
Féilim Ó hAdhmaill ◽  
Mike Ritchie

International Human Rights Law is supposed to operate at all times. However, during war/conflict it is often suspended to address an ‘emergency’. International Humanitarian Law attempts to deal with human rights protections during the specific circumstances of war. However, what happens when states refuse to recognise a conflict situation as a ‘war’? In a world where violent conflict increasingly involves non-state actors, where does that leave existing international human rights’ mechanisms? This chapter looks at the changing forms of conflict globally and the development of what has been termed ‘terrorism’. It critically assesses the concept of ‘terrorism’ and discusses the difficulties it poses for social science, universal human rights and the development of equality, stability and global peace.


2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (881) ◽  
pp. 47-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annyssa Bellal ◽  
Gilles Giacca ◽  
Stuart Casey-Maslen

AbstractAn effective legal regime governing the actions of armed non-state actors in Afghanistan should encompass not only international humanitarian law but also international human rights law. While the applicability of Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions to the conflict is not controversial, how and to what extent Additional Protocol II applies is more difficult to assess, in particular in relation to the various armed actors operating in the country. The applicability of international human rights law to armed non-state actors – considered by the authors as important, particularly in Afghanistan – remains highly controversial. Nevertheless, its applicability to such actors exercising control over a population is slowly becoming more accepted. In addition, violations of peremptory norms of international law can also directly engage the legal responsibility of such groups.


2021 ◽  
pp. 91-108
Author(s):  
Kay Wilson

Chapter 4 explains the ‘interpretive compass’ and examines the first limb being the theory of dignity in international human rights law and as a core value of the CRPD. It explores the meaning of dignity in the disability context and breaks it into its key components being that dignity involves recognition of inalienable intrinsic human worth, the relationship between dignity and equality, that dignity requires people to behave with dignity, that dignity requires a person to be treated with dignity, that the state should organize itself to support dignity, and the relationship between dignity and autonomy.


Author(s):  
Scheinin Martin

This article examines the three main approaches in the identification of the core rights and obligations in international human rights law. These include the consideration of some human rights as being superior or more fundamental than others, the notion that each human right encompasses an essential core and the definition of core obligations of the state in relation to the enjoyment of human rights. This article suggests that the best way to achieve a thorough understanding of the normative quality and content of human rights as legal rights is to combine these three approaches.


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