Book Review: Weapons under International Human Rights Law, edited by Stuart Casey-Maslen (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

Abstract

This review of Weapons under International Human Rights Law edited by Stuart Casey-Maslen analyses the book’s investigation of the legal framework applicable to weapons employed outside the context of war. While weapons developed or acquired for use in armed conflict will undergo examination by the states party to the Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions under Article 36, it is unclear how states decide to proceed if the same weapons are adopted, for example, for law enforcement purposes, counterpiracy, or peace operations. The editor and contributors believe that international human rights law (IHRL) offers the necessary solution, that is ‘an overarching international legal framework to help determine the legality of any weapon’. The review argues that the normative basis suggested in Chapter 14 serves as a good starting point for a discussion on a more detailed overall legal framework governing the use of weapons by the police. It rejects, however, the book’s claim that IHRL may equally have ‘significant implications for certain uses of weapons’ in warfare, showing that the contributors fail to demonstrate how IHRL is likely to enhance protection already offered under the laws of war and thus justify its inclusion in the Article 36 analysis.