Description
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC The Grey Zone: Civilian Protection Between Human Rights and the Laws of War by Edited by Mark Lattimer Edited by Professor Philippe Sands
The high civilian death toll in conflicts such as those in Syria or Iraq demonstrates how little protection the international legal order would appear to offer civilians. Yet both international humanitarian law and the law of human rights establish a series of rights that in theory should protect civilians. But which law or laws apply in a given situation and what might prevent their implementation? How can the law assist civilians injured by new methods of warfare such as drone strikes or targeted by new forms of military organisation such as transnational armed groups? Can this gap be filled by the increased use of human rights courts to remedy violations of applicable laws or by proposals for new instruments of civilian legal protection? This important new book draws on the expertise of leading academics and practitioners to shed light on the situation of civilians in the grey zone between human rights and the laws of war. Organised in two parts it opens with an examination of key contested issues when defining the rights of non-combatants. It goes on to assess current and developing legal mechanisms for addressing violations. As military intervention to protect civilians is highly controversial this volume looks alternatively at the potential for developing a practice of civilian rights protection.