Through its careful consideration of the status of armed groups within a complex legal landscape, this insightful book identifies and examines the tensions that arise due to their actions existing across a spectrum of legality and illegality. Considering the number of armed groups currently exercising governance functions and controlling territory and population in the world, its analysis is especially topical. Armed Groups and International Law provides essential peer-reviewed analyses of the place of armed groups in the legal framework. A collaborative effort between eminent scholars from different disciplines, it summarises various points of contention within the study of these armed actors, detailing examples that are highly relevant to the contemporary world, such as Afghanistan and Syria. Addressing law-making, rebel governance and accountability, this illuminating book will be of great benefit to students of international humanitarian law, human rights law, international criminal law, and public international law seeking to expand their understanding of the treatment of armed groups within the international legal system. It will also serve as a useful resource for practitioners working in the area of civilian protection and academics conducting research on armed conflict from a variety of disciplines.

Today the majority of the armed conflicts around the world are fought between States and armed groups, rather than between States. This changed conflict landscape creates an imperative to clarify the obligations of armed groups under international law. While it is generally accepted that armed groups are bound by international humanitarian law, the question of whether they are also bound by human rights law is controversial. This book brings significant new understanding to the question of whether and when armed groups might be bound by human rights law. Its conclusions will benefit international law academics, legal practitioners, and political scientists and anthropologists working on issues related to rebel governance and civil wars. This book addresses the debate on this topic by employing a theoretical, historical, and comparative analysis that spans international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law. Embedding these different perspectives in public international law, this book brings several key points of clarification to the legal framework. Firstly, the book draws upon social science literature on armed conflict to present a new viewpoint on the role that human rights law plays vis-a-vis international humanitarian law in non-international armed conflicts. Secondly, the book sheds light on the circumstances in which armed groups acquire obligations under human rights law. It brings illumination to these topics by combining historical and comparative research on belligerency, insurgency, and international humanitarian law with a theoretical analysis of legal personality under international law. In the final part of the book, the author tests the four most utilised theories of how armed groups are bound by human rights law, examining whether armed groups can be bound by virtue of (i) treaty law (ii) control of territory (iii) international criminal law and (iv) customary international law. In the book's conclusions, the author presents final remarks that are designed to provide concrete guidance on how the issue of armed groups and human rights law can be dealt with more thoroughly in practice.