Book

The evacuation of Eastern Aleppo : forced displacement under international law ?

Matt Brown

[S.l.] : International crimes database, January 2019

18 p.

English

Source : http://www.internationalcrimesdatabase.org/Commentary/IcdBriefs2019 (last accessed 25.03.2021)

The Syrian conflict has raised many legal issues that pose new questions for international lawyers. The evacuation of civilians from Eastern Aleppo raises the question of whether this evacuation should be examined from the viewpoint not of an evacuation, but of the crime of forced displacement. With Syrian forces launching months of attacks to counter rebel forces in Aleppo, they have ultimately regained Eastern Aleppo under their control. However, this success has come at a tremendous civilian cost, with allegations that their military campaign focused excessively upon targeting civilian areas. This Brief will examine whether there is a causal link between this military campaign and the subsequent displacement of civilians from Eastern Aleppo. Notably, whether in light of this link the actions of Syrian forces satisfy the requirement for the crime of forced displacement as either a crime against humanity or as a war crime. In turning attention from the humanitarian issue of the evacuation to the potentially criminal nature of the conduct that forced this displacement, this Brief will provide a new perspective on a critical aspect of the Syrian conflict.

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