About the author(s):
Katharine Fortin is an Associate Professor at Utrecht University where she teaches IHL and IHRL. Before joining Utrecht University, she worked at the ICTY, ICC and Norton Rose Fulbright. She is the author of The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2017) which won the 2018 Lieber Prize. She has written widely about the framework of law that applies to armed groups in non-international armed conflicts and is one of the editors of the Armed Groups and International Law blog.
New article by Professor Andrew Clapham in the International Law Studies journal on Detention by Armed Groups under International Law. The article tackles the question of whether international law entitles armed groups to detain people, as well as the separate question of what international law obligations bind the armed group when persons are detained. The focus is on the obligations that relate to the right to challenge the basis for any such detention, although some attention is given to issues of fair trial and the question of punishment. The article ends by considering the legal framework governing responsibility for States and those that assist armed groups. State responsibility questions relating to attribution and assistance are considered, as are the separate rules which would determine the criminal responsibility of accomplices who could be prosecuted.