Article

Counter-insurgency, human rights, and the law of armed conflict

by Federico Sperotto

• Human rights brief, Vol. 17, issue 1, Fall 2009, p. 19-23

English

Recent evolutions in human rights norms, particularly in the jurisprudence of the ECtHR, may serve to fill gaps in IHL as applied to counter-insurgency operations such as those conducted in Afghanistan. The article compares the applicable IHL and human rights rules on a number of sensitive issues regarding the use of lethal force and protection of civilians. These examples illustrate that broader human rights rules may be more applicable to the counter-insurgency context, when IHL rules prove insufficient for the complexities of such irregular warfare.

• 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