Human Rights in Internal Strife: Their International Protection
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Description
Ours is a world torn by violence and strife, characterized by cruelty of one human being to another. We observe around us an ever changing mosaic of confrontations, often defying simple or simplistic characterizations; ranging from situations of internal repression and tension to violent internal strife, internal armed conflict, civil war, internationalized-internal conflicts or international armed conflicts, and quite often various complex and mixed conflicts. Most of these situations of strife do not correspond to the classical models of civil and international wars, so central to Oppenheim—Lauterpacht’s vision of the world, although these situations continue to plague us too. Thus, a considerable part of the present activity of the International Committee of the Red Cross takes place outside of international or internal armed conflicts regulated by the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, for the Protection of Victims of War. It occurs in situations of internal strife involving violence of lower intensity. Are situations of violent internal strife a passing or a lasting phenomenon? Authoritative predictions made by the ICRC and others support the latter forecast. These situations, which are neither war nor peace, are characterized by massive and brutal violations of human dignity. Since such strife situations are not only most frequent, but are apparently here to stay, the principal questions which I wish to address in this book is this: is the international community equipped with the necessary tools to cope with these proliferating situations of internal strife? Or is it treating the epidemic of today with the medicine of yesterday? Or perhaps without any effective medicine at all? Obviously, as international lawyers interested in human rights and humanitarian law, we would like to see a continuum of norms protecting the rights of the human person in all situations, especially in situations of strife accompanied by violence, whatever its level. In every situation of strife there should be a convergence of humanitarian and human rights norms, or at least one of these two systems of safeguards should apply and offer effective and adequate protections to the victims. My object is to explore whether there exists a dangerous lacuna in the area of internal strife, where humanitarian law meets with human rights law. If a lacuna is found to exist, does it reflect a norm-deficiency, or lack of respect for the existing law or, perhaps, both? And, depending on the diagnosis, what should the remedy be? My analysis will be two pronged, encompassing both humanitarian law and human rights law. I shall have to draw a wide panorama of these two systems of protection. I shall examine internal strife principally in relation to its characteristic general features, without reference to particular countries. Account of the situation in any single country inevitably prompt debate upon conflicting factual allegations, which would deflect us from our task of developing an understanding of the nature of internal strife and suggesting the necessary remedies.
Publication Date
1987
Recommended Citation
Meron, Theodor, "Human Rights in Internal Strife: Their International Protection" (1987). Faculty Books & Edited Works. 454.
https://gretchen.law.nyu.edu/fac-books-edited-works/454
