Trends In International Humanitarian Law

In: Human rights law journal: HRLJ, Band 29, Heft 6-12

Abstract

For some, the aftermath of the events of September 11, 2001, seemed to prove that the existing rules of international humanitarian law were outdated and that they needed immediate reformation and reinterpretation. These rules rested on the paradigm of a World War II-kind of interstate conflict with heavy weapons being used on both sides, whereas today asymmetric and more sporadic forms of conflict are pitted against non-State actors. Five years after the terror attacks, the world looks back on an international debate on the status and treatment of terrorist suspects which has at least led to the conclusion that the Geneva Conventions of 1949 are not as outdated and that their basic principles and rules are still valid and legitimate. The US Supreme Court has recently confirmed that the common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions give terrorist suspect detainees a right to have a proper trial. Adapted from the source document.