Article

There and back again : the Inter-American human rights system's approach to international humanitarian law

Alonso Gurmendi Dunkelberg

• Revue de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre = The military law and law of war review, Vol. 56, no 2, 2017-2018, p. 305-348

English

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is constantly deciding cases that relate to the conduct of States in times of armed conflict. However, while the Court is a trailblazer in the field of human rights, its record with regard to the advancement of international humanitarian law is less stellar. In this article I will offer an explanation for this disconnect between the Inter-American System and international humanitarian law. Through the analysis of the court’s humanitarian law case law, I argue that the Inter-American Court has gone through a long process of adaptation to international humanitarian law, starting with promising beginnings in the late-nineties at the Inter-American Commission, continuing through a philosophical shift in the early 2000s that drove the Inter-American Court away from direct application of humanitarian law, and ultimately returning to humanitarian law-friendly causeways in the 2010s. I also point to the risks entailed by a human rights system not well connected to humanitarian law and the reasons why I believe the Court’s disassociation with international humanitarian law seems to be slowly but steadily tending towards a positive evolution.

• Full text : restricted access (ICRC)

• Revue de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre = The military law and law of war review = Tijdschrift voor militair recht en oorlogsrecht = Zeitschrift für Wehrrecht und Kriegsvölkerrecht = Rivista di diritto militare e di diritto della guerra
• Revue de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre = The military law and law of war review = Tijdschrift voor militair recht en oorlogsrecht = Zeitschrift für Wehrrecht und Kriegsvölkerrecht = Rivista di diritto militare e di diritto della guerra