Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Human Rights in War Time
Human Rights in War Time
Human Rights in War Time
This article is written by Sahil Aggarwal, from NALSAR University of Law, Hyderabad.
This article explores the issues resulting in concurrent application of the International
humanitarian law and the human rights laws for the protection of civilians in an armed
conflict.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. Highlights of the international law of armed conflicts
3. The Law of Geneva
4. Relationship between human rights law and International humanitarian laws
4.1. Distinctions between human rights laws and International humanitarian laws
5. Issues in the coinciding application of IHL and human rights law
5.1. Conflicts between the two states
5.2. Lex Specialis – the relationship between IHL and human rights laws
5.3. Derogation of human rights
5.4. The extraterritorial application of human rights law
5.5. A civilian amidst the armed conflict
6. Conclusion
7. References
Introduction
Cave arts from the New Stone Age, that means 10000 ago, manifested a reality that still
continues with us in conventional times, and that reality is armed conflicts. Although the
dimensions of the armed conflicts have changed significantly from that period, however,
its effects are still beyond the people who fight within those conflicts. The unimaginable
brunt of these conflicts affects the past, present, and future of civilians inevitably. For
this reason, with the growth of human society, we saw the development of International
Humanitarian laws, however, it was not the only concern, the effects of armed conflict go
beyond the loss of basic amenities, it affects the dignity and integrity of the people
affected by it. These violations found their answers in the form of human rights that
represent the basic essence of our humanity. This shows that interaction between
humanitarian laws and human rights was also inevitable. As we shall see further, this
interaction has not been a very smooth one, since it gives rise to multiple issues that are
now the concerns of contemporary international law theorists, scholars, and
administrators. In this article, we will explore some of these issues in-depth, but before,
it is important to understand the relationship between international humanitarian laws
and human rights themselves.
Among many dimensions of IHL, one fundamental issue remains to be the ‘civilian
immunity’, that is, the protection of certain people from the harm of wars. IHL covers,
thus, three significant areas, firstly, the protection of those who do not take part or are
no longer taking part in the war; secondly, restriction on the means of warfares like
weapons; and thirdly, permissible tactics. Accordingly, The International Committee of
the Red Cross recognizes two branches in IHL, firstly, the ‘law of Geneva’, which seeks to
protect the victims of armed conflict; and secondly, the ‘law of the Hague’ which
establishes rights and obligations of the belligerents in the conduct of hostilities.
In the further sections, hence, we will discuss, firstly, the law of Geneva briefly that
provides for the protection of civilian in the domain of IHL, secondly, we will discuss the
similarities and distinctions between IHL and Human rights Law in order to cull out the
issues that surround their concerted application during an armed conflict, thirdly, we will
discuss some of the main issues of this interaction between IHL and human rights law,
and lastly, it will be emphasized in order to conclude that the issues are required to be
resolved soon since they impact the civilian in most cruel ways in terms of their human
rights.
The GC, 1949 was supplemented by first, Additional Protocol I, 1977 provides for the
protection of wounded, sick and shipwrecked civilians and civilian medical personnel. It
also contains provisions for humanitarian aid for the civilian population and for the
protection of the civilian population against the effects of hostilities. Similarly, Additional
protocol II supplements Common Article 3, which provides minimum protection in non-
international armed conflicts. Additional Protocol II also applies in the context of non-
international armed conflicts between the armed forces of a State and dissident armed
forces. It prohibits a direct attack on civilians, collective punishment acts of terrorism,
rape, forced prostitution, and indecent assault, etc.
One may ask then, since the law of Geneva protects the civilians in many aspects, then
what is the need or relevance of involving human rights discourse in IHL. Perhaps, at the
most basic level, one can say that human rights are the set of rights granted at the
economic, social, and cultural level, they involve liberties that IHL does not cover in
substance, like the right to assembly, right to education, etc. Moreover, essentially
speaking, IHL, and human rights law may also mutually reinforce each other to a certain
extent. However, in the next section, we will delve into both human rights as well as IHL
to cull out the issues that arise in their interaction.
Another significant difference arises in the terms of ‘people’ they both seek to protect.
The IHL fundamentally distinguishes non-combatants (civilians) from combatants. As
stated earlier, the law of the Hague mainly deals with individual rights of combatants,
however, in some of its provisions, it secures the ‘collective’ rights of civilians. For
instance, Article 17 of Laws and Customs of War on Land (HAGUE, II), provides that the
prisoners taken may receive full pay that they ought to receive from their own country’s
regulations. On the other hand, under Article 46 of the same convention provides that
family honours and rights must be protected. On this line, we can see humanitarian laws
with respect to civilians protect the community interests as against the human rights
laws that they focus more on individual rights.
Thirdly, the IHL binds all the parties to an armed conflict, be it a state party or non-state
armed group, for the benefit of everyone who can get affected by their conduct, but
human rights laws bind only states and not the non-state armed groups. The reason for
this is that most groups of the latter category are unable to carry those obligations, as
their functions could not be premised on human rights norms, unlike the Governments.
Fourthly, although the IHL and human rights law share common substantive ideals, yet
the IHL governs many different issues such as the status of combatants, the legality of
specific kinds of weapons. On the other hand, human rights law covers freedom of the
press, the right to assembly, to vote, etc. which cannot be covered in the IHL.
Nevertheless, one cannot dispense with the large space where they both interact and
complement each other. Because of the aforementioned differences, however, the
interplay of IHL and Human rights law remains a subject of much legal attention, as the
issue involves the security of civilians’ life. In its statement on the application of human
rights in situations of armed conflict, the 1996 Advisory opinion on the legality of the
Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons,
Weapons, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) made three
announcements in that respect, firstly, human rights laws are applicable even during
armed conflicts
conflicts. Secondly, it is applicable in situations of conflict, subject only to
derogation. Third, when both IHL and human rights law are applicable, IHL is the lex
specialis, meaning thereby, for instance, the human right of not to be arbitrarily deprived
of one’s life applied in hostilities, however, what constituted an arbitrary deprivation of
life must be construed by the applicable lex specialis, that is the law applicable in armed
conflict. Similarly, the ICJ emphasized in the case of the Construction of the Wall in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory and DRC v. Uganda, human rights treaties continue to
apply in wartime.
This settlement by the ICJ has been generally deemed to settle the issue of the interplay
between IHL and human rights law. In other words, when human rights law and IHL are
in conflict, the latter will prevail, since it specifically deals with armed conflict. However,
the contradictions are inevitable, when these laws are applied to the same facts since
they represent different circumstances for which they were formulated. Moreover, some
scholars point out the use of the phrase lex specialis is itself prone to perusal, since not
every situation may be judged on the basis of IHL only.
still be recognized as an armed conflict. This firstly opens the question of whether every
use of armed force in another state’s territory, including its territorial waters and
airspace, is necessarily against the state. To apply IHL in such cases, there have to be
objective reasons to determine such engagement as an armed conflict. This is usually
evidenced by the manifestation of animus belligerendi (it means the intention of the
parties in a conflict as to whether the state of the situation they are involved in could be
determined as a war or not), which in turn, suggests the possibility of alternative
animus. For instance, in the cases of extraterritorial law enforcement which includes
action by armed forces against persons or entities in another state that engage in
international crimes. An action for self-defence may not necessarily be an armed conflict
against another state. An example can be the use of force by the Colombian army
against members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in Ecuador. Another
dilemma may arise in a situation when a state may try to bring law and order in the
occupied territory, it sometimes seems hard to characterize it as an armed conflict.
Further, the idea of armed conflict becomes more complex in the case of internal
conflicts. Article 3 common to the 1949 Geneva Conventions refer to the ‘armed conflicts
not of an international character’, implying that any armed conflict that any conflict not
covered by Common Article 2, is covered by Article 3. However, at the same time, it has
been observed that Article 3 was intended to apply to internal conflicts. Hence, the
question of what is an armed conflict is complex. Even Protocols of 1977 may not resolve
this idea satisfactorily. Hence, there is a possibility of reaching different conclusions on
the same set of facts. In this ambiguity, the human rights body or institution will have to
address the emanating issues and determine whether IHL must be applied or not. This is
perhaps for many reasons, for instance, the State where the conflict happens may deny
internationally for political reasons that the situation of armed conflict arose, or maybe
not.
Another issue arises in the form of the applicability of which constituent rules of IHL by
Human rights institutions after they had ascertained that a situation is an instance of
armed conflict. Questions like whether an instance was an international conflict or non-
international conflict affect the applicability of the set of rules. The substantive law
applicable in different situations is different, hence the issue.
between human rights law and IHL is not exclusively an inter-state affair. Human rights
law concerns the state and those within its jurisdiction.
Now, if we consider that the priority should be given to IHL in certain situations, as per
the principle of lex specialis. At the same time, the ICJ also suggests the human rights
may remain applicable at all times, which means the human rights body should reconcile
both IHL and human rights law. So, where the IHL has a limited application on certain
common areas like the right to education but does not deal with it as substantially as
human rights law, in that situation where IHL is applicable, there can be no violation of
human rights standards without the violation of humanitarian standards themselves. It is
to say the IHL displaces human rights law, which is contrary to what ICJ suggested.
Another difficulty in such a situation may be that should human rights institutions also
consider the customary law along with the treaty law in IHL?
This may give rise to another issue, for instance, when a human rights body dealing with
a situation of non-international armed conflict finds that there was no invocation of such
derogation by the state, it will apply the human rights in their entirety. In that case, if
human rights bodies fail to take into account the IHL, the state may be held responsible
for the breach of human rights which might not have been unlawful. It denies the
applicability of IHL as a matter of law in those cases.
The ICJ, Human Rights Committee, and the European Courts of Human Rights, have
suggested that human rights law applies in the occupied territory in the same way as it
applies to the state’s own territory. Under Article 42 of the Annex to the convention of
Hague Convention IV, it is provided that the area is deemed occupied when it is
ineffective control of the parties. An area, however, may be under the general control of
the occupying forces, but the position of the occupying power may be challenged to such
an extent to make it impossible for them to enforce its obligation under the IV Geneva
Convention. For instance, in Al-skeini v. The United Kingdom, the Court observed that to
keep civilian casualties and destruction controlled in the city, the British forces have to
tread cautiously, in which situation, they were not in a position to assume responsibilities
for health care, education and so on in the territory of Basra. In this situation, even if
one may agree that perhaps, the IHL recognizes occupation as consisting of different
stages, this idea comes in conflict with human rights law. The issue is that the human
rights institutions may apply too rigid a test in these cases. It does not allow the
possibility that human rights law could be applicable to the extent that the occupying
state can control the situation in the territory. This also suggests that the human right
institutions, in some situations may describe a situation as an occupation when it does
not get covered in IHL. However, if the IHL is lex specialis, it is presumed that a human
rights body may apply IHL to determine if the situation is of occupation.
Another aspect is detention outside the national territory which may also involve the
issue of extraterritorial application of human rights. Although it is an accepted position
that a state detaining the person outside its territory, however, subjects him to its own
jurisdiction. That means human rights law is applicable, however, the issue arises in the
context of whether these laws apply only to the treatment of the person in detention or
whether it applies to the grounds for detention and the circumstances of the detention
regime, such as presenting the detained in front of a judicial officer and his ability to
challenge the detention.
This list of issues is, however, not at all exhaustive, since the IHL and human rights law,
both involve multiple imperative aspects that may contradict each other, however,
because of the undeniable relation between both of them, the clashes need to be
resolved as soon as possible.
Conclusion
In sum, it can be concluded that human rights are an essential reflection of our
humanity. Hence, it becomes indispensable that our laws both acknowledge and resolve
the loopholes and challenges provided in this article promptly. The issues however
discussed here represent some of the many that arise from the interaction between IHL
and human rights, but this may not discourage the stride towards their aim, since they
not only provide a legal and other administrative mechanisms to curb such hostilities and
disrobement of human rights of civilians during the armed conflict but also represent a
concerted effort of the international community towards the alleviation of the sufferings
of affected civilians.
References
https://www.icrc.org/en/publication/0703-international-humanitarian-law-answers-
your-questions
https://heinonline.org/HOL/Page?handle=hein.journals/israel40&div=18&g_sen t= 1
& c asa _token=Jq4ObLnhOZcAAAAA:PoU2CkEZJfvfrLJCcdJyYZ5bZ846DUtSeiWQF09M
V 2 l TpY1KarWGKfI06hXvE_YorHpDxvN2ig&collection=journals
https://www.e-ir.info/2011/07/06/protecting-civilians-in-conflict-human-rights-and-
humanitarian-law/
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/what-difference-between-ihl-and-human-rights-
law
https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/irrc-871-hampson.pdf
LawSikho has created a telegram group for exchanging legal knowledge, referrals and
various opportunities. You can click on this link and join:
https://t.me/joinchat/J_0YrBa4IBSHdpuTfQO_sA
Did you find this blog post helpful? Subscribe so that you never miss another post! Just complete this
form…
Name
Email Address
10-6=?
SUBSCRIBE!
LawSikho
LawSikho
Register now
Name
Your Name
Email
Your Email
Which country are you from?
Select your country Select your country
+269 - KM (Comoros)
+1869 - KN (Saint Kitts And Nevis)
+850 - KP (Korea Democratic Peoples Republic
Of)
+82 - KR (Korea Republic Of)
+965 - KW (Kuwait)
+1345 - KY (Cayman Islands)
+7 - KZ (Kazakstan)
+856 - LA (Lao Peoples Democratic Republic)
+961 - LB (Lebanon)
+1758 - LC (Saint Lucia)
+423 - LI (Liechtenstein)
+94 - LK (Sri Lanka)
+231 - LR (Liberia)
+266 - LS (Lesotho)
+370 - LT (Lithuania)
+352 - LU (Luxembourg)
+371 - LV (Latvia)
+218 - LY (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya)
+212 - MA (Morocco)
+377 - MC (Monaco)
+373 - MD (Moldova, Republic Of)
+382 - ME (Montenegro)
+1599 - MF (Saint Martin)
+261 - MG (Madagascar)
+692 - MH (Marshall Islands)
+389 - MK (Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav
Republic Of)
+223 - ML (Mali)
+95 - MM (Myanmar)
+976 - MN (Mongolia)
+853 - MO (Macau)
+1670 - MP (Northern Mariana Islands)
+222 - MR (Mauritania)
+1664 - MS (Montserrat)
+356 - MT (Malta)
+230 - MU (Mauritius)
+960 - MV (Maldives)
+265 - MW (Malawi)
+52 - MX (Mexico)
+60 - MY (Malaysia)
+258 - MZ (Mozambique)
+264 - NA (Namibia)
+687 - NC (New Caledonia)
+227 - NE (Niger)
+234 - NG (Nigeria)
+505 - NI (Nicaragua)
+31 - NL (Netherlands)
+47 - NO (Norway)
+977 - NP (Nepal)
+674 - NR (Nauru)
+683 - NU (Niue)
+64 - NZ (New Zealand)
+968 - OM (Oman)
+507 - PA (Panama)
+51 - PE (Peru)
Phone
Your Phone
I want to know more about the lawsikho courses
Yes
No
Register now
Bootcamp starting in
17
Days
20
HRS
58
MIN
3
SEC
LawSikho
LawSikho