Article

Regulating the irregular : international humanitarian law and the question of civilian participation in armed conflicts

Emily Crawford

• University of California Davis journal of international law and policy, Vol. 18, no. 1, 2011, p. 163-190

English

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This paper will review the history of international humanitarian law and regulation of irregular participation in armed conflict as a case study to demonstrate the increasingly difficult task of achieving international consensus on the rule of law during armed conflict. From the first provisions in the Hague Regulations regarding levée en masse, to the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols, this paper will look at how nonconventional combatancy has been regulated, and examine the debates surrounding the expansion of the legal category of “combatant.” This paper will culminate in an analysis of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Expert Process on Direct Participation in Hostilities, finding both the final Interpretive Guidance, and the controversy leading up to and surrounding its publication, are demonstrative of the obvious stumbling blocks facing any new treaties regarding participation in armed conflict.

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