Organizing Rebellion

Organizing Rebellion

Author: Tilman Rodenhäuser

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2018

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0198821948

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The number of non-state actors, in the past not accountable for committing international crimes or violating human rights, is proliferating rapidly. Their ways of operating evolve, with some groups being increasingly fragmented and others organizing transnationally or in cyber space. As non-state armed groups are involved in the vast majority of today's armed conflicts and crisis situations, a new and increasingly important question has to be raised as to whether, and at what point, these groups are bound by international law and thereby accountable for their acts. Breaking new ground in addressing international human rights law, international criminal law, and international humanitarian law in one swoop, Rodenh user's text will be essential to academics and practitioners alike.


Armed Non-State Actors in International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law

Armed Non-State Actors in International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law

Author: Konstantinos Mastorodimos

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-05-15

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 1134800541

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The accountability of armed non-state actors is a neglected field of international law, overtaken by the regimes of state responsibility and individual criminal accountability as well as fears of legitimacy. Yet armed non-state actors are important players in the international arena and their activities have significant repercussions. This book focuses on their obligations and accountability when they do not function as state agents, regardless of the existence or extent of accountability of their individual members. The author claims that their distinct features lead to their classification into three different types: de facto entities, armed non-state actors in control of territory, and common article 3 armed non-state actors. The mechanisms that trigger the applicability of humanitarian and human rights law regimes are examined in detail as well as the framework of obligations. In both cases, the author argues that armed non-state actors should not be treated as entering international law and process exclusively through the state. The study concludes by focussing on their accountability in international humanitarian and human rights law and, more specifically, to the rules of attribution, remedies and reparations for violations of their primary obligations.


The Challenges of Asymmetric Warfare. Enhancing Compliance with International Humanitarian Law by Organized Armed Groups

The Challenges of Asymmetric Warfare. Enhancing Compliance with International Humanitarian Law by Organized Armed Groups

Author: Maria Alejandra Martinovic

Publisher: Anchor Academic Publishing

Published: 2016-09

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 3960670613

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All armed conflicts, whether international or non-international, are characterized by some sort of asymmetry. Disparities between parties to armed hostilities have always been an issue as a matter of fact, although not necessarily addressed by International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as a matter of law. IHL remains a stranger to such situations, for it is based on ist equal applicability to all parties of a conflict. Nonetheless, contemporary conflicts have shown that the said equality may no longer be the rule, but rather the exception. This refers in particular to non-international armed conflicts where parties are inherently asymmetrical and the weaker ones tend to act in straightforward violation of universally hailed rules in order to engage their technologically advanced and more resourceful enemy. Accordingly, the ways in which asymmetric actors behave during armed conflicts challenge IHL’s basic foundations, and the fact that civilians still endure the burden of hostilities, as their primary victims, underpins the necessity for further efforts in the attempt to promote respect for IHL. This work assesses diverse alternatives to respond to these brutal forms of asymmetric confrontations, with a view on those mechanisms which best address the causes why non-state actors deny not only complying with IHL from a legal perspective but also contemplating policy-making considerations.


The Accountability of Armed Groups Under Human Rights Law

The Accountability of Armed Groups Under Human Rights Law

Author: Katharine Fortin

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017

Total Pages: 465

ISBN-13: 0198808380

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Today the majority of the armed conflicts around the world are fought between States and armed groups, rather than between States. This changed conflict landscape creates an imperative to clarify the obligations of armed groups under international law. While it is generally accepted that armed groups are bound by international humanitarian law, the question of whether they are also bound by human rights law is controversial. This book brings significant new understanding to the question of whether and when armed groups might be bound by human rights law. Its conclusions will benefit international law academics, legal practitioners and political scientists and anthropologists working on issues related to rebel governance and civil wars. This book addresses the debate on this topic by employing a theoretical, historical, and comparative analysis that spans international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law. Embedding these different perspectives in public international law, this book brings several key points of clarification to the legal framework. Firstly, the book draws upon social science literature on armed conflict to present a new viewpoint on the role that human rights law plays vis-a-vis international humanitarian law in non-international armed conflicts. Secondly, the book sheds light on the circumstances in which armed groups acquire obligations under human rights law. It brings illumination to these topics by combining historical and comparative research on belligerency, insurgency, and international humanitarian law with a theoretical analysis of legal personality under international law. In the final part of the book, the author tests the four most utilised theories of how armed groups are bound by human rights law, examining whether armed groups can be bound by virtue of (i) treaty law (ii) control of territory (iii) international criminal law and (iv) customary international law. In the book's conclusions, the author presents final remarks that are designed to provide concrete guidance on how the issue of armed groups and human rights law can be dealt with more thoroughly in practice.


Civilian Or Combatant?

Civilian Or Combatant?

Author: Anisseh van Engeland

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2011-03-23

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 019974324X

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This title describes how the practice and evolution of warfare have turned international humanitarian law into an enigmatic law that is complex to understand, interpret, and enforce. It identifies the challenges that advocates of international humanitarian law face, which range from genocide, asymmetrical warfare, and terrorism to rape as a weapon. The author demonstrates that this branch of international law is in constant evolution.


Detention by Non-State Armed Groups under International Law

Detention by Non-State Armed Groups under International Law

Author: Ezequiel Heffes

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-02-17

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 1108851592

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An examination of the law applicable to detention conducted by non-State armed groups, together with their practices in conflict settings. Drawing on his personal experiences working with humanitarian organizations, Ezequiel Heffes explores how international law could be best employed to protect individuals.


Norm Clusters of Non-State Armed Groups

Norm Clusters of Non-State Armed Groups

Author: Will Jamison Wright

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2024-01-02

Total Pages: 223

ISBN-13: 3031459148

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The proliferation of non-state armed groups and non-international armed conflicts since the end of the Second World War has challenged the legal frameworks which govern conduct in armed conflict. While aspects of international humanitarian law apply to such conflicts, international law can only go part of the way to explaining behaviour by armed groups. This book seeks to refocus discussion on the limits to armed conflict in such settings by examining the norms that underpin international humanitarian law as espoused by these armed groups to give a clearer picture as to the collectively constructed appropriateness of certain behaviours in or limits to warfare. The specific research question is “What are the norms of armed conflict as identified by non-state armed groups?” Using Winston’s norm cluster model, this study seeks to examine and map the ideations and behavioural prescriptions that constitute the armed conflict norm cluster as defined by non-state armed groups. To do this, it utilises a qualitative content analysis of documents from non-state armed groups coded to identify the different elements of this norm cluster as well as the frequency, pervasiveness, and connections between these elements. The findings showed that, while international humanitarian law is universal, these norms limiting armed conflict are not, with no norm being seen across all contexts examined. Core norms of international humanitarian law, especially those supported by norm entrepreneurs, were seen to be the focus of sub-clusters and the emergence of new parts of the norm cluster could be observed over time. The findings suggest that further work with the conceptualisation of limits to armed conflict as norms could be useful in improving the embeddedness of norms amongst non-state armed groups and could be useful in reconceptualising limits to armed conflict in cases where broadly accepted norms face growing contestation.