The Development of IHL by Human Rights Bodies

Abstract

International human rights bodies have repeatedly been confronted with situations of armed conflict and consequently also with the potential complementary application of human rights and international humanitarian law (IHL) in such situations. Within their human rights-related mandates, the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council and its special procedures, UN human rights treaty bodies, the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights have developed a limited practice in dealing with IHL. In any case, these bodies have displayed different attitudes towards IHL and have contributed in different ways to understanding the links between human rights and IHL. Their practice can be seen as a non-State perspective on IHL with the potential to inform the law’s further development. This chapter traces how, on what basis and with which consequences, international human rights bodies contribute to the development of IHL.