Article

The regulation of armed non-state actors : promoting the application of the laws of war to conflicts involving national liberation movements

by Noelle Higgins

• Human rights brief, Vol. 17, issue 1, Fall 2009, p. 12-18

English

Source : https://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1101&context=hrbrief (last accessed on 19.06.2020)

This article seeks to investigate how non-state actors, specifically national liberation movements, are and could be regulated by IHL. It seeks to give an overview of the relevant legal provisions and illustrates the difficulties faced by national liberation movements if they do wish to accede to IHL instruments and apply IHL in their conflicts. As it is the aim of IHL to protect both combatants and civilians in armed conflicts, it is important that this body of law is practically applied and implemented in all conflict situations to the greatest extent possible. However, in the past, national liberation movements have encountered difficulties when seeking to apply IHL to their conflicts due to the nature of the legal framework and, indeed, the nature of international law itself.

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• Human rights brief / CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW
• Human rights brief [Vol. 17, issue 1, Fall 2009] / CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND HUMANITARIAN LAW