International Law Association The Hague Conference (2010) Rights of Indigenous Peoples Interim Report

Abstract

The Committee also found that the existence of armed conflict has many significant impacts on the operation of international law beyond the well-known fact that during armed conflict international humanitarian law (IHL) will apply and states party to an armed conflict (or other emergencies) may have the right to derogate from some human rights obligations. In addition, states that provide asylum to persons fleeing the violence of armed conflict will have the duty to do so; treaty obligations may be implicated; the law of neutrality may be triggered; arms control agreements are affected, and United Nations forces engaged in armed conflict will have rights and duties not applicable in operations outside of armed conflict. These are just some of the areas of international law that are affected by the outbreak of armed conflict. Plainly, the existence of armed conflict is a significant fact in the international legal system, and, yet, the Committee found no widely accepted definition of armed conflict in any treaty