Elizabeth Wilmshurst – författare

Although the relationship between international human rights law and the law of armed conflict has been the subject of significant recent academic discussion, there remains a lack of comprehensive guidance in identifying the law applicable to specific situations faced by military forces.Providing guidance for armed forces and practitioners on the detailed application of international human rights law during armed conflict, this book fills that gap. Part 1 of the volume details foundational information relating to international human rights law and human rights institutions, the types of operations that States' armed forces engage in, and how the law of armed conflict and international human rights law apply to regulate different situations. Part 2 provides practical guidance as to the legal regulation of specific situations, including discussion of the conduct of hostilities, detention operations, humanitarian assistance, cyber operations, and investigations.This book is the result of an in-depth process involving both academic and practitioner experts in the law of armed conflict and international human rights law who were convened in meetings at Chatham House chaired by Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Distinguished Fellow at Chatham House. The group included Professor Francoise Hampson, Essex University; Professor Dapo Akande, Oxford University; Charles Garraway, Fellow at Essex University; Professor Noam Lubell, Essex University; Michael Meyer, British Red Cross; and Daragh Murray, Lecturer at Essex University.

This book comprises contributions by leading experts in the field of international humanitarian law on the subject of the categorisation or classification of armed conflict. It is divided into two sections: the first aims to provide the reader with a sound understanding of the legal questions surrounding the classification of hostilities and its consequences; the second includes ten case studies that examine practice in respect of classification. Understanding how classification operates in theory and practice is a precursor to identifying the relevant rules that govern parties to hostilities. With changing forms of armed conflict which may involve multi-national operations, transnational armed groups and organized criminal gangs, the need for clarity of the law is all-important. The case studies selected for analysis are Northern Ireland, DRC, Colombia, Afghanistan (from 2001), Gaza, South Ossetia, Iraq (from 2003), Lebanon (2006), the so-called war against Al-Qaeda, and future trends. The studies explore the legal consequences of classification particularly in respect of the use of force, detention in armed conflict, and the relationship between human rights law and international humanitarian law. The practice identified in the case studies allows the final chapter to draw conclusions as to the state of the law on classification.

The International Committee of the Red Cross's study of Customary International Humanitarian Law by Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (Cambridge, 2005) contains a unique collection of evidence of the practice of States and non-State actors in the field of international humanitarian law, together with the authors' assessment of that practice and their compilation of rules of customary law based on that assessment. The study invites comment on its compilation of rules. Perspectives on the ICRC Study on Customary International Humanitarian Law results from a year-long examination of the study by a group of military lawyers, academics and practitioners, all with experience in international humanitarian law. The book discusses the study, its methodology and its rules and provides a critical analysis of them. It adds its own contribution to scholarship on the interpretation and application of international humanitarian law.