Research project

Navigating Human Rights in Armed Conflict: Interactions and Implications

About the project

This PhD research project aims to investigate how International Human Rights Law (IHRL) is understood by the courts and quasi-adjudicatory bodies, states, and civil society organisations working on cases of human rights violations during armed conflict. IHRL has traditionally been understood as applying during peacetime, while during war International Humanitarian Law (IHL) becomes the most appropriate regime for the protection of the rights of the civilian population. Despite the seeming unfitness of human rights law to regulate armed conflict, over the past several decades international courts pronounced on the aspects of human rights law and its interaction with humanitarian law in the context of hostilities. This project examines the complex interaction of IHRL with other fields of international law, namely – IHL (jus in bello), the law on the use of force (jus ad bellum), as well as International Criminal Law. Such multi-level and multi-dimensional analysis attempts to shed light on some of the most pressing questions surrounding the application of human rights law to armed conflict and its ultimate ability to protect the rights of individuals, including the fundamental right to life.

Researcher