The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict - Softcover

[Professor Sandesh Sivakumaran] examines the genesis of this novel, interdisciplinary body of law and the way ahead, thereby contributing with a major piece of work in a field . . . that greatly needed further research. (Roberta Arnold, Israel Law Review)

The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict is an essential contribution to an area much in need of clarification. In addition to offering a comprehensive elaboration of the current law in this area, it also explores the more foundational questions that will be of interest to any general international lawyer, such as the methodology of customary law formation and the varied sources of the relevant norms. It is to be hoped that Professor Sivakumarans proposal of a new instrument to bind non-state armed groups can be taken forward, with a view to achieving greater compliance with the law in situations that all too often witness the most violent fratricidal clashes. (Lawrence Hill-Cawthorne, Australian Year Book of International Law)

...the book of our time on the law of non-international armed conflict. (Claus Kreß, British Yearbook of International Law)

This is a rich and lengthy book. It is also courageous: Sivakumaran does not shy away from discussing some of the most debatable issues in international humanitarian law. (Noam Zamir, Cambridge Journal of International and Comparative Law)

The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict brings together and critically analyses the disparate conventional, customary, and soft law relating to non-international armed conflict. All the relevant bodies of international law are considered, including international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law.

The book traces the changes to the legal framework applicable to non-international armed conflict from ad hoc regulation in the nineteenth and early twentieth century, to systematic regulation through the 1949 Geneva Conventions and 1977 Additional Protocols, to the transformation of the law in the mid-1990s. Armed conflicts ranging from the US civil war, the Algerian War of Independence, and the attempted secession of Biafra, through to the current conflicts in the Colombia, the Philippines, and Sudan are all considered.

The identification and analysis of the law is complemented by a consideration of the practice, allowing both violations of, and respect for, the law, to be ascertained. Given that non-international armed conflicts are fought between states and non-state armed groups, or between armed groups, particular attention is paid to the oft-neglected views of armed groups. This is done through an analysis of hundreds of statements, unilateral declarations, internal regulations, and bilateral agreements issued by armed groups. Equivalent material emanating from states parties to conflicts is also considered.

The book is thus an essential reference point for the law and practice of non-international armed conflicts.