Article

Some reflections on the obligation to respect local law in situations of occupation

Ralph Wilde

• Recueils de la Société internationale de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre, 18, 2009, p. 436-441

English

The paper was provided for distribution to the participants at the conference and does not contain any notes or references.

The occupation of Iraq brought to prominence the long-standing issue of the extent to which occupation law prevents occupants from transforming the political and economic structures of occupied territory, and, if so, whether its applicability should be questioned and/or modified or supplemented by other rules, including rules of human rights. Equally, in an English law case about the UK in Iraq, Al-Skeini, it was suggested that human rights law should not be applicable to that occupation because its effect would contradict the status quo orientation of occupation law. The lecturer suggests that a useful insight into these issues is revealed when occupation is situated within a broader historical and normative context, as a species of international trusteeship. Holistic category of "trusteeship" encompasses colonialism, occupation and international territorial administration.

• Recueils de la Société internationale de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre / Société internationale de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre
• Recueils de la Société internationale de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre [18, 2009] / Société internationale de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre