In recent years, data collected by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has shown that the number of non-State armed groups (NSAGs) of humanitarian concern has remained consistently between 500 and 600, an increase compared to previous decades. In many conflict areas, several NSAGs co-exist in the same territory and compete or cooperate with each …
From the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the north of Syria, from remote areas of Colombia to the Tigray region of Ethiopia: over the past decade, tens of thousands of people have found themselves detained by non-State armed groups. As part of its mandate, the ICRC works in all parts of …
Detention by non-State armed groups: translating law to practice Read More »
Introduction The question of legal identity in civil conflict and territories under rebel governance has increasingly been covered in academic and policy circles (e.g. Ukraine, Syria, Sri Lanka). However, the recognition of legal identity (documents) conferred by aspirant states remains under researched. Civil documents are a symbol of state sovereignty/identity, and non-state authorities often issue identity documents to create legitimacy and show …
Aspirant States and the (Non-)Recognition of Legal Identity (Documents) Read More »
At the end of the 1980s, the Soviet Union was in turmoil. One problematic instance of the overall crisis was the conflict breaking out between Armenians and Azerbaijanis over the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast (NKAO). NKAO was an enclave populated predominantly by ethnic Armenians within the territory of the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (AzSSR). Its administration, …
Layla, a young girl from Damascus, attended both the adult and children’s Russian classes that the Danish Refugee Council offered Syrian-Circassian newcomers to Abkhazia in 2014-2015. One afternoon after class, I walked with her halfway to her new home up the hill tops as she told me her struggles about living in Abkhazia for the …
Since 1976, after the end of Spanish colonial domination, Western Sahara has been considered a non-self-governing territory. The legal status of the territory remains disputed with Morocco occupying a part of the territory and the Polisario Front, a national liberation movement, exercising control over the remaining part. Sahrawis live in the occupied territory, in the territory under the …
Unrecognised Documents and the Right to Nationality: The Case of Western Sahara Read More »
As insurgencies and armed groups develop during civil wars, they often take on functions vacated by central governments. Over the course of more than a decade of civil war, power in Syria has fragmented. Various statelets claim control of their respective areas, attempting to administer and rule them and claiming the responsibilities of being a …
Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham’s Projection of Legitimacy through Identity Documents Read More »
The consequences of displacement in Syria are becoming increasingly multi-generational, particularly in relation to legal identity, as more children are born into families with lost, damaged or destroyed documents or to families who never possessed documents in the first place. The devastating 6 February earthquake that struck Türkiye and Syria has further exacerbated the humanitarian situation …
Legal Identity in Limbo: Civil Documentation and De Facto Authorities in Northwest Syria Read More »
Deaths are an unfortunate yet expected occurrence in the context of armed conflict, whether of international or non-international character. Accounting for the dead due to hostilities or in other situations such as custodial deaths raises significant challenges if information about the deceased is not recorded or their remains not identified and collected. Not only could …
Armed Groups and the Need for State Mechanisms to Account for the Dead Read More »
Citizenship grants access to the rights enjoyed by all members of the political community of a given state. To claim these rights, citizens must be able to provide evidence of membership based on birth place and/or parentage. Yet, according to recent World Bank estimates, about 850 million people lack official documents such as birth certificates, ID …
Accessing Citizenship: Patterns of Civil Registration and Insurgent Conflict in India Read More »