Chapter

Extraterritorial application of the rights to life and personal liberty, including habeas corpus, during situations of armed conflict

Robert K. Goldman

Counter-terrorism strategies in a fragmented international legal order : meeting the challenges

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2013

p. 454-481

English

Also published in Research handbook on human rights and humanitarian law / ed. by R. Kolb and G. Gaggioli

Is a state bound by its human rights obligations when its agents operate outside of national territory? And, if so, how do those obligations interrelate with the state's other obligations under international humanitarian law when its counter-terrorism operations coincide with situations of armed conflict. This chapter examines in particular the extraterritorial reach of two fundamental human rights during two situations recognized in international law. These rights are the right to life and the right to liberty and the related procedural safeguard of habeas corpus. The two situations examined are (1) international armed conflict, including occupation and (2) non-international armed conflicts. This paper surveys the jurisprudence on the extraterritorial application of the International covenant on civil and political rights, the American convention on human rights and the American declaration of the rights and duties of man and the European convention on human rights and the extent to which rights in these instruments can be derogated from. It also examines how the treaty bodies supervising these instruments view the relationship between international human rights and international humanitarian law in situations of armed conflict.

• Full text : restricted access (ICRC)

• Counter-terrorism strategies in a fragmented international legal order : meeting the challenges / ed. by Larissa van den Herik and Nico Schrijver