Chapter

"Be karbala miravim !" : Iran, or the challenges of internalizing international humanitarian law in a muslim country

Anicée van Engeland

Do the Geneva Conventions matter ?

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2017

p. 250-280

English

This chapter considers the extent to which Islamic governance can integrate international humanitarian law (IHL) into its own legal system by examining the case of Iran. It addresses the consequences of the emergence of an Islamic-universal hybrid legal system. The stakes are high because IHL’s efficiency and necessity have been questioned: The existence of the Iranian hybrid system of law can be perceived as a threat by scholars arguing that international law is at risk of fragmentation due to the variety of domestic and regional approaches to fundamental legal standards. The importance of those stakes is illustrated by the Iran-Iraq War: The process of mixing a universal secular legal system with a religious domestic law occurred at a crucial time when Iran was at war with Iraq, with clear effects on the protection of civilians and the conduct of hostilities.

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• Do the Geneva Conventions matter ? / ed. by Matthew Evangelista and Nina Tannenwald