Armed Groups and International Law - Legal Roundup September 2023

About the author(s):

Yiokasti Mouratidi

Yiokasti Mouratidi is a Doctoral Candidate in the Department of International and Operational Law at the Swedish Defence University, jointly with the Faculty of Law, Economics and Governance at Utrecht University. Her PhD focuses on compliance with the law of armed conflict, particularly through the lens of technological developments. Previously, Yiokasti obtained her LLM in Public International Law from Utrecht University (2022) and her LLB in Law with European Law from the University of Nottingham (2019). Yiokasti has a strong interest in international humanitarian law and international security law.

We are very pleased to present the legal roundup for September 2023 – January 2024, containing publications on issues relating to armed groups and international law, non-international armed conflict, rebel governance, transitional justice and international criminal law. It was prepared by Yiokasti Mouratidi, and finalised with input from Katharine Fortin, Ezequiel Heffes, Andrea Farrés, Saeed Bagheri, Jelena Aparac, Anki Sjöberg and Florian Weigand.

If you have a 2023/2024 publication which you think should be included in this roundup, please do not hesitate to contact the editors of the blog.

Please note that due to paywalls and your institution’s permissions, the given link may not always take you to the text of the article. The Armed Groups and International law blog has published legal roundups since 2012. For previous versions of the legal roundup, see here.

Non-State Armed Groups, Non-International Armed Conflicts and International Law

Ahmed, Raed, Libya after Qaddafi: Are Tribes Always Rebels, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Alexander, Amanda, Filling the Gaps: The Expansion of International Humanitarian Law and the Juridification of the Free-Fighter, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 2023

Bakir, Ali, Hezbollah’s Relation with Iran: The Proxy-Ally Debate and Wilayat al Faqih’s Impact on Hezbollah’s Nature, and Legitimacy, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Goyes, David and Sandberg, Sveinun, Confluences of War and Crime: Trajectories into Paramilitary Groups in Colombia, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, December 2023

Heffes, Ezequiel, From law-taking to law-making and law-adapting: Exploring non-state armed groups’ normative efforts, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Janssens, Pauline Charlotte, A Reconsideration of International Humanitarian Law’s Procedural Fairness: A Call to Include Non-State Armed Groups Enjoying Internal Legitimacy in the Making of Customary International Humanitarian Law, Working Paper 240, September 2023

Jensen, Michael, Ferguson, Neil, Kane, Sheehan and LaFree, Gary, Choosing Where to Fight: Do Social Networks Distinguish American ISIS Foreign Fighters from ISIS Inspired Terrorists? Journal of Conflict Resolution, Volume 68(1), January 2024

Jo, Hyeran and Appledorn, Niels, Shadowland strategy: How non-state armed actors navigate between national laws and international law, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Mantilla, Giovanni, The politics of armed non-state groups and the codification of international humanitarian law, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Moffett, Luke, Violence as redress: Armed groups, the right to rebellion and the resort to force for gross violations of human rights, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Osasona, Tosin, The question of Definition: Armed Banditry in Nigeria’s North-West in the Context of International Humanitarian Law, International Review of the Red Cross, Volume 105, Issue 923, August 2023

Raube, Svenja, Anticipatory consent to military intervention: Analysis in the Wake of the coup d’etat in Niger in 2023, Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, Volume 10(2), November 2023

Sobol, Ilya and Gaggioli, Gloria, Proscription and group membership in counter-terrorism and armed conflict: Areas of tensions between criminal law and international humanitarian law, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Thøgersen, Marie, Virtual Groups and the Triggering of Armed Conflicts, Nordic Journal of International Law, Volume 93(2), October 2023

Rebel governance and civilian agency

Askary, Pouria and Hosseinnjad, Katayoun, A Possible Legal Framework for the Exploitation of Natural Resources by non-State Armed Groups, International Review of the Red Cross, Volume 105, Issue 924, December 2023

Alijla, Abdalhadi, Rebel Statehood: Wartime Rebel Governance and the Sub-National Identity in Syria, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Al-Aloosy, Massaab, Ruling Without Responsibility: Bads Organisation, Asa‘ib Ahl al-Haq, and Kata‘ib Hezbollah After Defeating ISIS in Iraq, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Breslawski, Jori, Can Insurgents Capture Aid through Credit Claiming? Evidence from Afghanistan, Journal of Global Security Studies, Volume 8, Issue 4, December 2023

Cook, Joana and Maher, Shiraz, The Rule is for None but Allah: Islamic Approaches to Governance, Hurt Publishers, 2023

Corradi, Edoardo, The Propagandistic Use of Rebel Governance: The Case of the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Dam-de Jong, Daniëlla, A matter of life and death: The impact of power-sharing on the legal position of armed groups, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Dirkx, Toon, The Clashing Legacies of EPLF Rebel Governance in Post-Independent Eritrea, Civil Wars, January 2024

Druckman, Daniel, Vukovi?, Siniša and Verbeek, Nicolas, Rebel Group Legitimacy, Ideology and Durable Peace, International Journal of Conflict Management, Volume 35(1), January 2024

Ezbidi, Basem, Not Rebel Governance? Hamas’s Rule, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Fraihat, Ibrahim and Alijla, Abdalhadi (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, October 2023

Fortin, Katharine, Exploring the civilian and political institutions of armed non-state actors under IHL in an age of rebel governance, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Furlan, Marta, The provision of healthcare by Islamist armed groups: Between sharia and international law, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Furlan, Marta, Rebel Governance Between Ideology and Pragmatism: Al-Qa‘ida in Yemen in 2011-2012 and 2015-2016, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Grant-Brook, William, The State in Idlib: Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham and Complexity Amid the Syrian Civil War, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan 2023

Jensen, Erik and Hoshino-MacDonald, Kazumi, Is Taliban 2.0 Closing the Gates to Ijtihad Again?, Stanford Journal of International Law, Volume 59(2), 2023

Jo, Hyeran, Yi, Joowon and Barret, Josiah, Humanitarian Rebels? Rebel Governance and International Humanitarian Engagement, International Politics, October 2023

Joo, Minnie and Sosa, Santiago, Governance Interrupted: Rebel Governance and pro-Government Militias, Journal of Global Security Studies, Volume 8(3), September 2023

Mampilly, Zachariah and Gutierrez, Jose Antonio, A tax like any other? Rebel taxes on narcotics and war time economic order, International Politics, September 2023

Mueller, Jennifer, Rebel Groups’ Adoption of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law Norms: an Analysis of Discourse and Behavior in Kosovo, Human Rights Review, Volume 24, Issue 4, October 2023

Najib Azva, Muhammad, The Women ‘Behind’ the Mujahidin Eastern Indonesia: Negotiating Agency and Gender Dynamics, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Special Issue on Radical and Militant Islamism in Indonesia, January 2024

O’Connor, Francis, Clandestinity and Insurgent Consolidation: The M-19’s Rebel Governance in Urban Colombia, Political Geography, Volume 105, August 2023

O’Connor, Francis, and Jongerden, Joose, Rebel Governance without Territorial Control: the Experiences of the PKK in 1970s Turkey, Geoforum, Volume 147, December 2023

Schwab, Regine, Competitive Rebel Governance in Syria, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Spadaro, Alessandra, Rebel rulers and rules for rebels: Rebel governance and international law, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Sydiq, Tareq, Competing to Govern: Opportunities and Regime Responsiveness to Civilian Protests During the Taliban Insurgency in Afghanistan, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Termeer, Agnes, Rebel Legal Order, Governance and Legitimacy: Examining the Islamic State and the Taliban Insurgency, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, July 2023

Thakur, Shalaka, Not-So-Freeway: Informal Highway Taxation and Armed Groups in North-East India, ICTD Working Paper 174, November 2023

Van Baalen, Sebastian, Keeping Communal Peace in the Shadow of Civil War: A Natural Experiment from Côte d’Ivoire, World Development, Volume 176, April 2024 (early access)

Voyvodic, Clara, Negotiating ‘Hearts and Minds’: conflict, infrastructure, and community support in Colombia, Small Wars & Insurgencies, Volume 35, Issue 1, January 2024.

NSAGs, IR and reparations

Bartels, Rogier, ‘The right to participate in hostilities’: combatant privilege vs criminal responsibility for member of organised armed groups during international and domestic criminal trials, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Bellal, Annyssa, ‘Equals, but not Equals’: The paradox of amnesties and armed groups in non-international armed conflict, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Mironova, Vera and Whitt, Sam, Gender, Agency, and Accountability of ISIS Violence: Public Perspectives from Mosul, Iraq, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, December 2023

Solomon, Solon and Bayer, Ya’akov, Is All Mental Harm Equal? The Importance of Discussing Civilian War Trauma from a Socio-Economic Legal Framework’s Perspective, Nordic Journal of International law

ICL

Antouly, Julien and Mignot-Mahdavi, Rebecca, Thinking with IHL in contexts of counterterrorism: the case of criminal justice systems in the Sahel, Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, Volume 25 (2022), January 2024

Buitelaar, Tom, Assisting International Justice: Cooperation between UN Peace Operations and the International Criminal Court in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Oxford University Press 2023

Dias, Leandro and Heffes, Ezequiel, New Typologies of Non-International Armed Conflict? An Analysis of Article 8(2)(f) of the Rome Statute, in Eric Hilgendorf (ed), Law in Times of Crisis, Festschrift for Yoram Danzinger, Duncker & Humboldt, 2023, 41-66

Duffy, Helen, De facto justice: Prosecution by non-state actors in armed conflict, in Katharine Fortin and Ezequiel Heffes (eds), Armed Groups and International Law: In the Shadowland of Legality and Illegality, E-Elgar, 2023

Grey, Rosemary and Killean, Rachel, Communicating Justice: Cambodian Press Coverage of the ECCC’s Final Judgment, International Criminal Law Review, Volume 23(4), 2023

Nortje, Windell, The Sexual Abuse of African Boy Soldiers by Male and Female Offenders: the Need for an International Criminal Law Response, International Criminal Law Review, Volume 23(4), 2023

Stahn, Carsten (ed), The International Criminal Court in its Third Decade, Brill Nijhoff 2023

Torrens, Shannon, Prosecuting Rebels in International Criminal Justice, in Ibrahim Fraihat and Abdalhadi Alijla (eds), Rebel Governance in the Middle East, Palgrave Macmillan, 2023

Yarnell, Priyamvada, “Adding fuel to the fire”: Unconditional Early Release of Perpetrators Convicted by the ICTY, Views from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Journal of Human Rights, Volume 22(5), 2023