Chapter

The law of neutrality

Paul Seger

The Oxford handbook of international law in armed conflict

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2014

p. 248-270

English

While neutrality, as generally understood, may cover a wide range of behaviour, the law of neutrality is not only narrower, but also more precise in its scope. First, the duties and rights of neutrality only apply to sovereign states and not to any other subjects of international law. Secondly, they only apply in a situation of an international armed conflict between two or more states. Thirdly, they impose a limited set of obligations upon the state, these will be explained further in this Chapter. In essence, the core duty of a neutral state is to refrain from supporting, through militarily means, warring parties in an international armed conflict.

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• The Oxford handbook of international law in armed conflict / ed. by Andrew Clapham and Paola Gaeta ; assistant ed.: Tom Haeck, Alice Priddy