CYIL vol. 8 (2017)

CYIL 8 ȍ2017Ȏ QUESTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW … QUESTIONS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW IN THE CASE OF A FOREIGN MILITARY INTERVENTION AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE Tamás Lattmann 1 Abstract: The study outlines the most relevant problems of international humanitarian and human rights law that have to be faced by states deciding to use force against the Islamic State terrorist organisation. As that military movement would result in an asymmetric conflict situation, the analysis is useful not only related to the Islamic State, but any other similarly organised or similarly fighting organisations or adversaries. Resumé : Studie nastiňuje nejdůležitější problémy mezinárodního humanitárního práva a mezinárodního práva lidských práv, kterým musí čelit státy, jenž se rozhodly použít sílu proti teroristické organizaci „Islámský stát“. Vzhledem k tomu, že vojenské působení by vedlo k situaci asymetrického konfliktu, je tato analýza užitečná nejen v souvislosti s Islám- ským státem, ale i v souvislosti s jinými podobně organizovanými nebo podobně bojujícími organizacemi nebo protivníky. Key words : Islamic state, conflict, forces, human rights, military intervention, terrorist. On the Author : Tamás Lattmann JD, PhD., is a senior researcher at the Institute of International Relations, Prague and an associate professor at the National University of Public Service, Budapest. Introduction This study provides an analysis of international humanitarian and international human rights-related legal aspects in the case of states’ decision to use of force against the so called Islamic State (hereafter “IS”). As a result of constraints in length, it focuses only on jus in bello aspects, meaning that the study does not deal with the legality of the use of force, only with relevant obligations deriving from international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) of mainly European states deciding to use force against the terrorist organisation. First, the study discusses the nature of armed conflict(s) the IS is involved in, then identifies the applicable legal rules and finally gives an overview of some of the most problematic issues which arise under the law of armed conflict, or international humanitarian law, that has to be faced by any states deciding to participate in a military movement of this kind. 1.

2.

Qualification of the Conflict

2.1 Qualification of the Situation between IS and Other Actors on the Territory of States

As the IS does not qualify for the status of a sovereign state, it may not claim any sovereign rights, thus the situation has to be evaluated on the basis of existing sovereign 1 The study has been prepared with the support of the TAČR BETA project TB940MZV003 “The Use of Force against the Islamic State”.

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