The Individual Right of Access to Justice in Times of Crisis: Emergencies, Armed Conflict, and Terrorism

Abstract

This chapter examines the individual right of access to justice in times of crisis, such as armed conflict, emergency, or terrorism. It explores a variety of issues related to access via the prism of international law's response to situations of crisis, with particular reference to the distinctive categories of emergency and armed conflict. It also evaluates the extent to which individual access to justice constitutes a linchpin of the interface between international human rights law and the regulation of crisis. Then, a review of international humanitarian law's approach to individual access, and identification of contemporary challenges to and lacunae in that field, are given. Some of the current territory is explored by examining the problems posed by the legal regulation of terrorism, and the challenges faced by states in the terrorism and law interface. Furthermore, it investigates how these tensions manifest themselves in practical terms as constraints on individual access to justice.