Chapter

International humanitarian law and the protection of internally displaced persons

Stephane Ojeda

Research handbook on international law and migration

Cheltenham ; Northampton : E. Elgar, 2014

p. 634-649

English

This chapter offers an overview of the main treaty and customary rules of international humanitarian law (IHL) that protect armed conflict-induced internally displaced persons throughout all phases of displacement. The author advances that a vast majority of internally displaced persons in the context of armed conflict are forced to (or choose to) flee their homes because IHL - which, inter alia, aims at protecting civilians and those not engaged in hostilities - is violated. This chapter also lists some developments and initiatives that have been undertaken in the past decade in order to strengthen the normative framework related to displacement in armed conflict on the basis of contemporary humanitarian challenges. Furthermore, while mobilizing international human rights law and international criminal law, the author points out that the enforcement of IHL rules remains the most efficient way to prevent the violations and excesses that create the problem of massive population displacement in armed conflict. [Summary by students at the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic, Laval University]

• Research handbook on international law and migration / ed. by Vincent Chetail and Céline Bauloz