Armed non-state actors and human rights law – authority without responsibility?

Agata`````` Kleczkowska

Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4621-6336


Abstract

The aim of this article is to determine the status of armed non-state actors under international law from the perspective of human rights law. The article seeks to answer the question whether armed non-state actors are bound by international human rights norms, as well as what could be the potential legal grounds of these obligations, what would be their scope and their consequences. The paper explores the thesis that armed non-state actors are not obliged by human rights norms. In order to examine this problem, first of all, one needs to explain why it is justified to link the activities of armed non-state actors with the human rights regulations at all. Further, some general remarks on the status of armed non-state actors are made. The main part of the article discusses different arguments which supports the thesis, such as the role of international legal norms addressed to armed non-state actors, conclusions of soft law instruments and the approach adopted by both States and armed non-state actors towards the discussed issue.


Keywords:

armed conflict, armed non-state actors, human rights, international humanitarian law


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Published
2019-04-18

Cited by

Kleczkowska, A. (2019). Armed non-state actors and human rights law – authority without responsibility?. Polski Rocznik Praw Człowieka I Prawa Humanitarnego, (9), 125–142. https://doi.org/10.31648/prpc.3758

Agata`````` Kleczkowska 
Instytut Nauk Prawnych PAN
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4621-6336