Law of Non-International Armed Conflict

This book brings together and critically analyses the disparate conventional, customary, and soft law relating to non-international armed conflict. All the relevant bodies of international law are considered, including international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law. The book traces the changes to the legal framework applicable to non-international armed conflict from ad hoc regulation in the nineteenth and earlytwentieth century, to systematic regulation through the 1949 Geneva Conventions and 1977 Additional Protocols, to the transformation of the law in the mid-1990s. Armed conflicts ranging from the US civil war, the Algerian War of Independence, and the attempted secession of Biafra, through to the currentconflicts in the Colombia, Philippines, and Sudan are all considered.The identification and analysis of the law is complemented by a consideration of the practice, allowing both violations of, and respect for, the law, to be ascertained. Given that non-international armed conflicts are fought between states and non-state armed groups, or between armed groups, particular attention is paid to the oft-neglected views of armed groups. This is done through an analysis of hundreds of statements, unilateral declarations, internal regulations, and bilateral agreementsissued by armed groups. Equivalent material emanating from states parties to conflicts is also considered. The book is thus an essential reference point for the law and practice of non-international armed conflicts.

[Professor Sandesh Sivakumaran] examines the genesis of this novel, interdisciplinary body of law and the way ahead, thereby contributing with a major piece of work in a field . . . that greatly needed further research., This invaluable work is accordingly of great interest for those - jurists or otherwise - seeking a structured and clear overview and in-depth, yet concise, development on the rules and challenges of the law of non-international armed conflicts. In addition to being an enjoyable read, the book equally provides, for international humanitarian law scholars and practitioners - even the most eminent amongst them - an undeniably original and reliable perspective on this topic., The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict is an essential contribution to an area much in need of clarification. In addition to offering a comprehensive elaboration of the current law in this area, it also explores the more foundational questions that will be of interest to any general international lawyer, such as the methodology of customary law formation and the varied sources of the relevant norms. It is to be hoped that Professor Sivakumarans proposal of a new instrument to bind non-state armed groups can be taken forward, with a view to achieving greater compliance with the law in situations that all too often witness the most violent fratricidal clashes., This book is an almost exhaustive treatment and will probably be cited as leading the doctrine in the topic of non-international armed conflicts and armed non-state actors., ...the book of our time on the law of non-international armed conflict.

Sandesh Sivakumaran is a lecturer at the School of Law, University of Nottingham. He has worked at the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, and the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and has acted as an expert for intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. He is a recipient of the Giorgio La Pira Prize and the Antonio Cassese Prize for International Criminal Law Studies.