The call for an immediate global ceasefire launched by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on March 23, 2020, as a response to the Covid-19 pandemic, has been backed by some 70 states and answered by conflict parties in at least 9 countries around the world. In some of the most protracted contemporary conflicts, such as in …
While nowadays it is widely accepted that non state actors play important roles in international relations, the specific traits of obscure relationships between two or more non-state actors remain unclear and insufficiently explored. In my recent contribution to the Business and Human Rights Journal entitled “Business and Armed Non-State Groups: Challenging the Landscape of Corporate …
Business and Armed Non-State Groups: Where Do We Stand? Read More »
Several weeks ago, the Kurdish-dominated Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES or Rojava) has announced that it will hold trials for Islamic State fighters from more than 50 States – including the UK, The Netherlands and France – after repeated calls for repatriation by their home countries had failed. Whereas the question of …
The Monitoring System of the Office of the Special Representative of the SG for Children and Armed Conflict Apart from the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Optional Protocol to the CRC, the thematic area of children in armed conflict is monitored by the Office of the Special Representative of the …
The majority of armed conflicts taking place nowadays are non-international in character. In this type of conflicts, the fighting takes place between governmental armed forces and organised armed groups or between such groups within a state. Despite the predominance of non-international armed conflicts (NIAC), treaty-based compliance mechanisms applicable to this type of situations are either …
The situation of children affected by armed conflict (CAAC) has been one of the UN’s priorities when engaging with the parties to the conflict in South Sudan. Since 2012, several action plans were adopted within the UN’s CAAC framework, in order to end and prevent the recruitment and use of children and other violations. In …
Introduction: victim attention and treatment in violent contexts The purpose of this post is show that after the armed conflict in Colombia was supposed to have ended, violence is just as bad – if not worse in some regards – as during the years before the 2016 peace agreement. Illustrating this with reference to qualitative …
Conceptual problems with Colombia’s ongoing armed conflict in midst of a peace process Read More »
Non-state armed actors are increasingly engaging in “international law talk” – where they invoke the Geneva Conventions, mention humanitarian principles, and participate in international legal debates inside and outside of courtrooms. The Polisario Front in Western Sahara did it, the FARC in Colombia did it, the Taliban/Islamic Emirates in Afghanistan (IEA) did it, and the …
“International Law Talk” by Non-State Armed Groups Read More »
Having examined the responsibilities of the Turkish forces and SDF towards the detainees in northern Syria (see Part I here), I am now going to analyse the responsibilities of the States of origin towards the ISIS members specifically. The thousands of ISIS members held in detention centers and camps by the SDF come from around …
This two-part post addresses the responsibility of various actors with respect to the ISIS members held in detention in North East Syria in light of the new Turkish invasion. Starting with an overview of recent facts, the first post outlines the obligations of Turkish and Kurdish forces with respect to the detainees. The second post …