From Syria to Mali, Afghanistan or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the majority of today’s armed conflicts are non-international in character and involve one or several armed non-State actors (ANSAs) fighting government forces or other ANSAs. Although international humanitarian law (IHL) provides a comprehensive framework to regulate these conflicts, violations are widespread and committed by States and ANSAs alike. Yet, while a number of studies have analysed States practices, little is known about ANSAs perspectives and attitudes towards IHL. Moreover, this state-centric approach of the international legal system may explain to some extent the lack of ownership of, and compliance with, international law by ANSAs.
The project will seek to address these gaps and provide a better sense of how ANSAs perceive IHL, which norms are more accepted or disputed, more respected or disregarded, and why. It will focus on the following questions: Are ANSAs familiar with their obligations under IHL and how do they understand them? Do ANSAs agree with the norms? What factors influence their policy and practice? Are there new issues that ANSAs would be willing to regulate in the future?
Over the past two years, this project has examined a range of norms and conduct field research in 9 contexts (Afghanistan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Lebanon, Mali, Myanmar, the Philippines, Somaliland and Syria).
Through a detailed comparative analysis of ANSAs views and practice on IHL, the project aims to:
1. increase knowledge of these key actors in today’s armed conflict and the applicable legal framework
2. provide tools to humanitarian actors to better engage with ANSAs on IHL compliance, and;
3. inform future international law-making processes for rules applicable to ANSAs.
The project is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and hosted at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies’ Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP). It is led notably in collaboration with The American University in Cairo.
Dr Annyssa Bellal, Principal Investigator
Dr Nesrine Badawi, Co-Investigator
Pascal Bongard, Co-Investigator
Ezequiel Heffes, Co-Investigator
For more information, check the website: words2deeds.org.
