Chapter

Convergence of norms across the spectrum of armed conflicts : international humanitarian and human rights law

Emily Crawford

Detention of non-state actors engaged in hostilities : the future law

Leiden ; Boston : Brill Nijhoff, 2016

p. 7-22

English

Bibliographie : p. 19-21

Despite the apparent lack of comprehensive treaty rules regulating non-international armed conflicts, (NIACs) and the seemingly entrenched legal division between the types of armed conflicts, an examination of the history of IHL actually demonstrates a growing willingness among states to accept the introduction of more rules on permissible conduct in NIACs. The progressive development of the law of armed conflict over the past century has evidenced a growing acceptance of the need for comprehensive guidelines on the conduct of hostilities, whether they are international or non-international. This confluence of norms has been influenced significantly by the emergence in the post-World War II era of international human rights law. The wealth of treaties, declarations and customary law protecting human rights has seen states begin to accept limits on their sovereign power in the name of protecting the rights of their citizens. In turn, the belief that states’ rights could only extend so far in their conduct towards their citizens necessarily influenced the conduct of states in non-international armed conflicts. Against this background, this chapter examines how, over the past 60 years, there has been a convergence in the laws relating to armed conflicts, to the point that it is possible to speak of a large body of law applicable in all armed conflicts.

• Detention of non-state actors engaged in hostilities : the future law / ed. by Gregory Rose, Bruce Oswald