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Born in the twilight zone: Birth registration in insurgent areas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2020

Kathryn Hampton
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Abstract

Insurgent groups are registering births in territories which they control, and yet States do not recognize insurgent birth registration, resulting in a legal vacuum with harsh consequences for children. Based on international human rights and humanitarian law provisions related to birth registration, this article argues that insurgent groups have an inherent power to register births in order to fulfil their obligations under international humanitarian law, and that State obligation to ensure the right to recognition as a person under the law should require States to recognize insurgent birth registration in order to prevent harm to children.

Keywords

birth registrationinsurgent groupsarmed opposition groupscustomary international lawchild rights in armed conflict
Type
The impact of armed conflict and other situations of violence on children
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 101 , Issue 911: Children and war , August 2019 , pp. 507 - 536
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2020

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Footnotes

*

This article arose out of a dissertation submitted for the MSt programme at Oxford; many thanks are due to Professor Dino Krisiotis for his invaluable comments as dissertation supervisor. Email: kathryn.hampton@gmail.com.

References

1 Sollenberg, Margareta and Melander, Erik, “Patterns of Armed Conflict, 2007–2016”, SIPRI Yearbook 2017, 2017Google Scholar.

2 International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Protracted Conflict and Humanitarian Action: Some Recent ICRC Experiences, Geneva, 2016.

3 “Common Article” refers to a provision that is common to all four of the Geneva Conventions. Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 287 (entered into force 1 October 1950) (GC IV); Protocol Additional (II) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 609, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978).

4 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 999 UNTS 171, 16 December 1966 (entered into force 23 March 1976).

5 Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1577 UNTS 3, 20 November 1989 (entered into force 2 September 1990).

6 Rwanda, Initial Report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child under the Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/RWA/1, 6 December 2011, para. 146.

7 UNICEF, Innocenti Insight: Birth Registration and Armed Conflict, Florence, 2007, p. 16.

8 International Rescue Committee (IRC), “Born under ISIS, the Children Struggling in Iraq”, Reliefweb, 19 January 2018, available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/iraq/born-under-isis-children-struggling-iraq (all internet references were accessed in March 2020).

9 UNICEF, Every Child's Birth Right: Inequities and Trends in Birth Registration, New York, 2013.

10 Noman Benotman and Nikita Malik, The Children of Islamic State, Quilliam and Romeo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative, March 2016, p. 47.

11 “Over 500 Babies Born in DPR Since Early 2018”, DONi News Agency, 19 January 2018, available at: https://dninews.com/article/over-500-babies-born-dpr-early-2018.

12 CRC, Art. 7, and ICCPR, Art. 24(2); GC IV, Arts 24, 50, and AP II, Art. 78(3).

13 Daluvan Barwari and Salam Gehad, “Children of Al-Qaeda Fighters in Iraq Face Legal Strife, Social Stigma”, Al-Monitor, 1 April 2013, available at: www.al-monitor.com/pulse/culture/2013/04/iraq-children-al-qaeda-fighters-legal-problems.html.

14 Concluding Observations on the Fifth Periodic Report of Iraq, UN Doc. CCPR/C/IRQ/CO/5, 3 December 2015; Concluding Observations on the Combined Fifteenth to Twenty-First Periodic Reports of Iraq, UN Doc. CERD/C/IRQ/CO/15-21, 22 September 2014; Concluding Observations on the Initial Report of Iraq, UN Doc. CAT/C/IRQ/CO/1, 7 September 2015; Concluding Observations on the Report Submitted by Iraq under Article 29(1) of the Convention, UN Doc. CED/C/IRQ/CO/1, 13 October 2015; Concluding Observations on the Fourth Periodic Report of Iraq, UN Doc. CESCR.12IRQCO4, 9 October 2015; Concluding Observations on the Combined Second to Fourth Periodic Reports of Iraq, UN Doc. CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4, 3 March 2015.

15 UN Doc. CRC/C/IRQ/CO/2-4, above note 14, para. 31.

16 Concluding Observations on the Report Submitted by Iraq under Article 8, Paragraph 1, of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. CRC/C/OPAC/IRQ/CO/1, 5 March 2015, paras 21–24, 35–38; Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict, 2173 UNTS 222, 25 May 2000 (entered into force 12 February 2002).

17 For example, Antonio Cassese, “The Status of Rebels under the 1977 Geneva Protocol on Non-International Armed Conflicts”, International Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 2, 1981; Andrew Clapham, “Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Actors in Conflict Situations”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 88, No. 863, 2006; Aristotle Constantinides, “Human Rights Obligations and Accountability of Armed Opposition Groups: The Practice of the UN Security Council”, Human Rights & International Legal Discourse, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2010; Zakaria Dabone, “International Law: Armed Groups in a State-Centric System”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 93, No. 882, 2011; Katharine Fortin, The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2017; Daragh Murray, Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Armed Groups, Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2016; Sandesh Sivakumaran, “Binding Armed Opposition Groups”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 55, No. 2, 2006.

18 An exception being Sandesh Sivakumaran, “Courts of Armed Opposition Groups: Fair Trials or Summary Justice?” Journal of International Criminal Justice, Vol. 7, No. 3, 2009, with a passing mention of insurgent birth certificates on p. 511.

19 AP II, Art. 1(1); see also Yves Sandoz, Christophe Swinarski and Bruno Zimmerman (eds.), Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, ICRC, Geneva, 1987 (Commentary on the APs), paras 4460–4470.

20 For discussion of the term “armed opposition group”, see A. Constantinides, above note 17, p. 90; Veronika Bilkova, “Treat Them as They Deserve? Three Approaches to Armed Opposition Groups under Current International Law”, Human Rights & International Legal Discourse, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2010, pp. 113–114; Lisbeth Zegveld, The Accountability of Armed Opposition Groups in International Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, pp. 3–4; D. Murray, above note 17, Part 1.2.

21 ICCPR, Art. 4; Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 29, “Article 4: Derogations during a State of Emergency”, UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.11, 31 August 2001.

22 Rukmini Callimachi and Andrew Rossback, “The ISIS Files: Extreme Brutality and Detailed Record-Keeping”, New York Times, 4 April 2018, available at: www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/04/04/world/middleeast/isis-documents-photos.html; Nadim Houry, “Children of the Caliphate: What to Do About Kids Born Under ISIS”, Human Rights Watch, 23 November 2016, available at: www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/23/children-caliphate; Atika Shubert, “How ISIS Controls Life, from Birth to Foosball”, CNN, 21 April 2015, available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2015/04/21/middleeast/isis-documents/index.html; Meira Svirsky, “First Islamic State Birth Certificate: Guns and Grenade”, Clarion Project, 28 April 2015, available at: https://clarionproject.org/first-islamic-state-birth-certificate-report-25/.

23 Ashley Jackson, In Their Words: Perceptions of Armed Non-State Actors on Humanitarian Action, Geneva Call, May 2016, especially pp. 12–14, 22–23.

24 “The Pridnestrovya Parliament has Ratified an Intergovernmental Agreement on Visa-Free Regime with Abkhazia”, News Agency Novosti Pridnestrovya, 24 January 2017, available at: https://novostipmr.com/en/news/17-01-25/supreme-council-ratifies-updated-treaty-cooperation-south-ossetia.

25 UNHCR, Syrian Arab Republic: Whole of Syria Protection Sector – 2015 Protection Needs Overview, 31 October 2015, available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/syrian-arab-republic-whole-syria-protection-sector-2015-protection-needs.

26 United Nations in Ukraine, “Briefing Note on Birth Registration”, December 2017, available at: www.humanitarianresponse.info/en/operations/ukraine/document/briefing-note-birth-registration-united-nations-ukraine-december-2017-0.

27 N. Houry, above note 22.

28 Ghazwan Hassan al-Jibouri, “Sins of the Father: Extremist Fighters’ Children Live in Stateless Limbo in Iraq”, Niqash, 12 May 2016, available at: www.niqash.org/en/articles/society/5267/Extremist-Fighters'-Children-Live-In-Stateless-Limbo-In-Iraq.htm.

29 Alexandra Saieh, Barriers from Birth: Undocumented Children in Iraq Sentenced to Life on the Margins, NRC, 2019, p. 7.

30 Tamta Karchava, “More than 500 Abkhazians Were Granted Georgian Citizenship during the Last Year and a Half”, Abkhazia.gov, 5 July 2010, available at: http://abkhazia.gov.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=85&info_id=408.

31 Zahra Albarazi and Laura van Waas, Understanding Statelessness in the Syria Refugee Context, NRC and Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion, 2016, p. 30; Ivan Watson and Raja Razek, “Rebel Court Fills Void amid Syrian Civil War”, CNN, 26 January 2013, available at: https://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/25/world/meast/syria-rebel-court/.

32 IRC, Identify Me: The Documentation Crisis in Northern Syria, July 2016, available at: www.rescue-uk.org/report/identify-me-documentation-crisis-northern-syria; UNICEF, above note 7, p. 29.

33 Thomas Hammarberg and Magdalena Grono, Human Rights in Abkhazia Today, July 2017, p. 62, available at: www.palmecenter.se/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Human-Rights-in-Abkhazia-Today-report-by-Thomas-Hammarberg-and-Magdalena-Grono.pdf; Nabih Bulos, “Born under a Bad Sign: Mosul Residents with Islamic State Birth Certificates Need a Do-over”, Los Angeles Times, 7 March 2017, available at: www.latimes.com/world/middleeast/la-fg-iraq-mosul-court-20170306-story.html.

34 For example, as part of its Ani Amaalyki (Mother and Child) project, the NGO International Fund Apsny, in Transnistria, requires submission of a birth certificate to receive a child care package. See the International Fund Apsny website, available at: www.fondapsny.org/en/ani-amaalyki.

35 IRC, above note 32; NRC, Voices from the East: Challenges in Registration, Documentation, Property and Housing Rights of People Affected by Conflict in Eastern Ukraine, 28 October 2016, p. 7.

36 Zaina Shahlah, “Syria Undocumented: Displaced Children Struggle for Birth Certificates”, Raseef 22, 3 July 2017, available at: https://raseef22.com/en/politics/2017/07/03/syria-undocumented-displaced-children-struggle-birth-certificates/.

37 Z. Albarazi and L. van Waas, above note 31, p. 33.

38 European Commission for Democracy through Law, “Information Note on the Law on Occupied Territories of Georgia”, Opinion 516/2009 CDL(2009)044, Strasbourg, 5 March 2009; UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine, 16 August–15 November 2016, available at: www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/UA/UAReport16th_EN.pdf.

39 IRC, above note 32; NRC and International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School, Registering Rights: Syrian Refugees and the Documentation of Births, Marriages, and Deaths in Jordan, October 2015, p. 16.

40 IRC, above note 32.

41 Sarnata Reynolds and Daryl Grisgraber, Birth Registration in Turkey: Protecting the Future for Syrian Children, Refugees International, 2015, p. 9.

42 IRC, above note 32.

43 NRC and International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School. Securing Status: Syrian Refugees and the Documentation of Legal Status, Identity, and Family Relationships in Jordan, November 2016, p. 24; N. Houry, above note 22.

44 Z. Shahlah above note 36; Z. Albarazi and L. van Waas, above note 31, p. 34; NRC, Birth Registration Update: The Challenges of Birth Registration in Lebanon for Refugees from Syria, 2015, pp. 24–25.

45 Leila Fadel, “Children of Al-Qaeda in Iraq Pay for Sins of Their Fathers”, Washington Post, 21 September 2010, available at: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/20/AR2010092005696.html.

46 N. Houry, above note 22.

47 Z. Shahlah, above note 36.

48 D. Barwari and S. Gehad, above note 13.

49 Linda Gradstein, “Iraq's Race to Replace Documents Issued by ISIS”, Jerusalem Post, 14 December 2016, available at: www.jpost.com/Middle-East/ISIS-Threat/Iraqs-race-to-replace-documents-issued-by-ISIS-474968.

50 IRC, above note 32.

51 Human Rights Watch, “Iraq: School Doors Barred to Many Children Affects Thousands Who Lived Under ISIS Rule”, 28 August 2019, available at: www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/28/iraq-school-doors-barred-many-children.

52 NRC, above note 29.

53 G. H. al-Jibouri, above note 28.

54 Human Rights Watch, “Iraq: Families of Alleged ISIS Members Denied IDs, Documents Needed for Movement, Welfare, Work, School”, 25 February 2018, available at: www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/25/iraq-families-alleged-isis-members-denied-ids.

55 Ibid.

56 Amnesty International, The Condemned: Women and Children Isolated, Trapped and Exploited in Iraq, 2018, pp. 22–23.

57 Ibid.

58 H. L. Brumberg, D. Dozor and S. G. Golombek, “History of the Birth Certificate: From Inception to the Future of Electronic Data”, Journal of Perinatology, Vol. 32, No. 6, 2012.

59 See R. R. Baxter, Treaties and Custom, Brill Njihoff, Leiden, 1971, especially pp. 99–104.

60 Ibid., p. 103: “Even if all States should expressly assume the obligations of codification treaties, regard will still have to be paid to customary international law in the interpretation of those instruments, and the treaties will in turn generate new customary international law growing out of the application of the agreements.”

61 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, UNGA Res. 217 A(III), 10 December 1948.

62 Principle 3, “The child shall be entitled from his birth to a name and a nationality”: Declaration on the Rights of the Child, UN Doc. A/RES/1386 (XIV), 20 November 1959.

63 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 17, “Article 24 (Rights of the Child)”, 7 April 1989, para. 7.

64 Manfred Nowak, UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary, N. P. Engel, Kehl, 1993, p. 432.

65 Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, “General Comment on the Right to Recognition as a Person before the Law in the Context of Enforced Disappearances”, available at: www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Disappearances/GCRecognition.pdf.

66 Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Case of the Yean and Bosico Children v. The Dominican Republic, Series C, No. 130 (Merits), 8 September 2005, para. 260(3).

67 Human Rights Council, Resolution of the 27th Session, “Birth Registration and the Right of Everyone to Recognition Everywhere as a Person before the Law”, UN Doc A/HRC/27/22, 17 June 2014, para. 4.

68 Ibid., para. 5.

69 The CRC has 196 States Parties, representing all eligible States except for the United States. The next most ratified treaty is the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, with 182 States Parties. See Jaap E. Doek, “The Protection of Children's Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Achievements and Challenges”, St. Louis University Public Law Review, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2003.

70 CRC, Reservations and Declarations.

71 Committee on the Rights of the Child, “General Comment No. 16 (2013) on State Obligations regarding the Impact of the Business Sector on Children's Rights”, UN Doc. CRC/C/GC/16, 17 April 2013, para. 49.

72 ICCPR, Art. 4(2).

73 Human Rights Committee, above note 63, paras 15, 33–35.

74 Ineta Ziemele, Article 7: The Right to Birth Registration, Name and Nationality and the Right to Know and Be Cared For by Parents, Martinus Nijhoff, Leiden, 2007, para. 43.

75 Ibid., paras 6, 44.

76 Debra Ladner, Erik G. Jensen and Samuel E. Saunders, “A Critical Assessment of Legal Identity: What It Promises and What It Delivers”, Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, Vol. 6, No. 1, 2014, p. 48.

77 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families, 2220 UNTS 3, 18 December 1990 (entered into force 1 July 2003).

78 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 2515 UNTS 3, 13 December 2006 (entered into force 3 May 2008).

79 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, CAB/LEG/24.9/49, 11 July 1990 (entered into force 29 November 1999); Covenant on the Rights of the Child in Islam, OIC/9-IGGE/HRI/2004/Rep.Final, June 2005; American Convention on Human Rights, 1144 UNTS 123, 22 November 1969 (entered into force 18 July 1978).

80 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, UN Doc. A/RES/67/180, 20 December 2006 (entered into force 23 December 2010).

81 See H. L. Brumberg, D. Dozor and S. G. Golombek, above note 58.

82 ICJ, North Sea Continental Shelf, Judgment, ICJ Reports 1969, para. 74. For methodologies for determining provisions of IHRL and IHL customary law, see Theodor Meron, Human Rights and Humanitarian Norms as Customary Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989, Chap. 2.

83 UNICEF, Progress of Nations 1998, 1998, p. 6.

84 UNICEF, above note 9, p. 14.

85 UN General Assembly, Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, UN Doc. A/RES/70/1, 21 October 2015.

86 I. Ziemele, above note 74, para. 49. See also Jean-Marie Henckaerts and Louise Doswald-Beck (eds), Customary International Humanitarian Law, Vol. 1: Rules, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005 (ICRC Customary Law Study), Rule 135, available at: https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_rul; CRC, Art. 38(1): “States Parties undertake to respect and to ensure respect for rules of international humanitarian law applicable to them in armed conflicts which are relevant to the child.”

87 For extensive discussion of the customary nature of the Geneva Conventions and certain human rights provisions, applied to States, see also T. Meron, above note 82.

88 Theodor Meron, “The Geneva Conventions as Customary Law”, American Journal of International Law, Vol. 81, No. 2, 1987, p. 368.

89 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 31 [80], “The Nature of the General Legal Obligation Imposed on States Parties to the Covenant”, UN Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add.13, 26 May 2004, para. 11.

90 GC IV, Art. 24. Identity is a key condition of other Geneva Convention protections – for example, Article 122 of Geneva Convention III on information bureaux, which requires records to be kept on the identification of all prisoners of war who are detained. Geneva Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War of 12 August 1949, 75 UNTS 135 (entered into force 21 October 1950).

91 Jean Pictet (ed.), Commentary on the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, ICRC, Geneva, 1960 (1960 Commentary), pp. 189–190.

92 Ibid. The original ICRC commentaries were edited by Jean Pictet, based on the experience of World War II and on the negotiating history of these treaties; similarly, after the adoption of the Additional Protocols, ICRC lawyers drafted commentaries based on the unique mandate of the ICRC in IHL development. See Commentary on the APs, above note 19. The ICRC is now updating these commentaries; as of the time of writing of this article, the ICRC had issued new commentaries for Geneva Conventions I and II. See Jean-Marie Henckaerts, “Bringing the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols into the Twenty-First Century”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 94, No. 888, 2012. In 2017, a new scholarly commentary edited by Andrew Clapham, Paola Gaeta and Marco Sassòli was issued; however, its chapters related to the identity of children in conflict mainly cite the 1960 Commentary without going into further detail. See Heike Spieker, “Maintenance and Re-establishment of Family Links and Transmission of Information, Part II: Specific Issues and Regimes”, and Hans-Joachim Heintze and Charlotte Lulf, “Special Rules on Children”, in Andrew Clapham, Paola Gaeta and Marco Sassòli (eds), The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2015.

93 1960 Commentary, above note 91, p. 189.

94 Ibid., p. 189.

95 Ibid., p. 189.

96 Mexico, Manual de Derecho Internacional Humanitario para el Ejército y la Fuerza Área Mexicanos, Ministry of National Defence, June 2009, Section 163; United Kingdom, The Law of War on Land being Part III of the Manual of Military Law, The War Office, HMSO, 1958, para. 36; United States, Field Manual 27-10, The Law of Land Warfare, US Department of the Army, 18 July 1956, as modified by Change No. 1, 15 July 1976; United States, Department of Defense Law of War Manual, Department of Defense, June 2015, updated December 2016, codified in 10 USC §140b (2012) (DoD Manual), p. 165.

97 Ireland, Geneva Conventions Act, 1962, as amended in 1998, Sections 4(1), 4(4); Guinea, Children's Code, 2008, Arts 437–438.

98 See, for example, Imperial War Museums, “Identity Disc, Children's Overseas Reception Board”, available at: www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30082130.

99 See Australian War Memorial, “Civilian Child's Identity Disc: John Hudson Fysh”, available at: www.awm.gov.au/collection/REL/12781?image=1.

100 Jordan Gass-Poore, “From Toys to Tags and Terror: Children as Young as Six were Forced to Prepare for Nuclear Armageddon during the Cold War and Had DOG TAGS so Their Parents Could Identify Their Bodies in the Event of a Nuclear Fallout”, Daily Mail, 10 August 2017.

101 See UNICEF, above note 7, p. 7.

102 See, for example, UNICEF Ethiopia, “Italy Supports Vital Events Registration in Ethiopia”, 7 December 2016, available at: https://unicefethiopia.org/2016/12/08/italy-supports-vital-events-registration-in-ethiopia/.

103 Protocol Additional (I) to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 1125 UNTS 3, 8 June 1977 (entered into force 7 December 1978).

104 1960 Commentary, above note 91, p. 287.

105 Ibid., p. 287.

106 Ibid., p. 287.

107 Ibid., p. 287.

108 Ibid., p. 287.

109 K. Fortin, above note 17, p. 166. See also Tom Gal, “Territorial Control by Armed Groups and the Regulation of Access to Humanitarian Assistance”, Israel Law Review, Vol. 50, No. 1, 2017, p. 27.

110 Sylvie Junod, “Additional Protocol II: History and Scope”, American University Law Review, Vol. 33, No. 1, 1983, p. 30.

111 Commentary on the APs, above note 19, para. 4546.

112 H. Spieker, above note 92, p. 116, paras 77, 78.

113 H.-J. Heintze and C. Lulf, above note 92, p. 1306, para. 48.

114 Commentary on the APs, above note 19, para. 4519.

115 ICRC, Draft Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949: Commentary, October 1973, available at: www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/RC-Draft-additional-protocols.pdf.

116 Commentary on the APs, above note 19, para. 4553.

117 Ibid., para. 4545.

118 Ibid., para. 4548.

119 See above note 69 on CRC ratification. On Geneva Convention ratification, see T. Meron, above note 88, p. 348: “the Geneva Conventions are binding on even more States than the Charter”.

120 ICJ, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v. United States of America), Judgment, ICJ Reports 1986.

121 Analysis by Agnieszka Szpak, “The Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission and Customary International Humanitarian Law”, Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2013, p. 301; Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission, Partial Award: Prisoners of War – Ethiopia's Claim, 1 July 2003, paras 27–28.

122 ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 86.

123 John B. Bellinger III and William J. Haynes II, “A US Government Response to the International Committee of the Red Cross Study Customary International Humanitarian Law”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 89, No. 866, 2007.

124 ICRC Customary Law Study, above note 86, Rule 135.

125 Ibid., Rule 105.

126 Ibid., Rule 55.

127 Ibid., Rule 136.

128 Ibid., Rule 123.

129 UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, UN Doc. E/CN.4/1998/53/Add.2, 11 February 1998 (Guiding Principles).

130 UNGA Res. 60/L.1, UN Doc. A/60/L.1, September 2005, para. 132.

131 See Guiding Principles, above note 129, Preamble, para. 1.

132 Walter Kälin, Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement: Annotations, American Society of International Law and Brookings Institution, 2000, pp. 92–94.

133 See R. R. Baxter, above note 59, p. 100, on how draft texts and other non-binding documents reflect views of States.

134 David James Cantor, “‘The IDP in International Law’? Developments, Debates, Prospects”, International Journal of Refugee Law, Vol. 30, No. 2, 2018, pp. 194–196.

135 Beate Rudolf, “Non-State Actors in Areas of Limited Statehood as Addressees of Public International Law Norms on Governance”, Human Rights & International Legal Discourse, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2010, pp. 131–132.

136 D. Murray, above note 17, Chap. 1.III. A UN Special Rapporteur has stated that IS “controls large swathes of territory in which millions of individuals live” and “runs a civil and a military administration … triggering application of human rights obligations”: Ben Emmerson, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism, UN Doc. A/HRC/29/51, 16 June 2015, paras 30–31.

137 See Marco Sassòli, “Taking Armed Groups Seriously: Ways to Improve their Compliance with International Humanitarian Law”, International Humanitarian Legal Studies, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2010, pp. 21–23; Jonathan Somer, “Jungle Justice: Passing Sentence on the Equality of Belligerents in Non-International Armed Conflicts”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 89, No. 867, 2007; S. Sivakumaran, above note 18; Tilman Rodenhauser, “Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Armed Groups in Other Situations of Violence: The Syria Example”, International Humanitarian Legal Studies, Vol. 3, 2012, p. 274; A. Constantinides, above note 17, p. 110.

138 For opposing views, see Lyndsay Moir, The Law of Internal Armed Conflict, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2002, p. 194 (“Human rights obligations are binding on governments only …. Non-governmental parties are particularly unlikely to have the capacity to uphold certain rights”); L. Zegveld, above note 20, p. 152 (“Armed opposition groups rarely function as de facto governments”); M. Sassòli, above note 137, pp. 15–17.

139 J. Somer, above note 137, p. 658.

140 International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, The Prosecutor v. Zejnil Delalic, Zdravko Mucic, Hazim Delic, Esad Landzo, Case No. IT-96-21-T, 16 November 1998, para. 473, cited in J. Somer, above note 137, p. 664.

141 K. Fortin, above note 17, p. 165; A. Clapham, above note 17, p. 502, D. Murray, above note 17, Chap. 8.II.A.

142 See references cited in above note 137.

143 D. Murray, above note 17, Chap. 5.1.

144 1960 Commentary, above note 91, p. 37, cited in J. Somer, above note 137, p. 661.

145 Dapo Akande and Emanuela-Chiara Gillard, Oxford Guidance on the Law Relating to Humanitarian Relief Operations in Situations of Armed Conflict, 2016, p. 13.

146 UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Executions, Mission to Sri Lanka, UN Doc E/CN.4/2006/53/Add.5, 27 March 2006; Human Rights Council, Report on Human Rights Situation in Palestine and other Occupied Arab Territories, UN Doc A/ HRC/10/22, 20 March 2009.

147 B. Rudolf, above note 135, p. 140; ILC, Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, Supplement No. 10, UN Doc. A/56/10, November 2001, Art. 9: “The conduct of a person or group of persons shall be considered an act of a State under international law if the person or group of persons is in fact exercising elements of the governmental authority in the absence or default of the official authorities and in circumstances such as to call for the exercise of those elements of authority.”

148 Michael Schoiswohl, “De Facto Regimes and Human Rights Obligations – the Twilight Zone of Public International Law?”, Austrian Review of International and European Law, Vol. 6, No. 45, 2001, p. 74.

149 Ibid., p. 77.

150 Ibid., p. 72.

151 T. Gal, above note 109, p. 27.

152 Heike Krieger, “International Law and Governance by Armed Groups: Caught in the Legitimacy Trap?”, Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding, Vol. 12, No. 4, 2018, p. 567.

153 Human Rights Committee, General Comment No. 26, “Continuity of Obligations”, UN Doc CCPR/ C/ 21/ Rev.1/ Add.8/ Rev.1, 12 August 1997, cited in K. Fortin, above note 17, p. 274.

154 ICJ, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro), Separate Opinions of Judge Weeramantry and Judge Shahabuddeen, ICJ Reports 2007, cited in K. Fortin, above note 17, p. 275.

155 S. Sivakumaran, above note 17, p. 371.

156 K. Fortin, above note 17, p. 156.

157 European Parliament, Resolution on Human Rights in Moldova and in Transnistria in Particular, 2006 OJ. (C 291 E), 2006, pp. 414–415, cited in Yael Ronen, “Human Rights Obligations of Territorial Non-State Actors”, Cornell International Law Journal, Vol. 46, No. 1, 2013, p. 40.

158 UN Economic and Soc. Council, Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Additional Information Submitted by States Parties to the Covenant Following the Consideration of Their Reports by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Israel Addendum, UN Doc. E/1989/5/Add.14, 14 May 2001, cited in Y. Ronen, above note 157, p. 41.

159 For example, Special Court for Sierra Leone, The Prosecutor v. Morris Kallon and Brima Bazzy Kamara, Case No. SCSL-2004-15-AR72(E), Decision on Challenge to Jurisdiction, Loma Accord Amnesty, 13 March 2004, para. 47; Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General, 25 January 2005, para. 172; ICJ, Nicaragua, above note 120; International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, The Prosecutor v. Duško Tadić, Case No. IT-94-1-AR72, Decision on the Defence Motion for Interlocutory Appeal on Jurisdiction, 2 October 1995, para. 98; International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4, Judgment, 2 September 1998, para. 608, cited in S. Sivakumaran, above note 18, pp. 371–375. For further discussion of the application of customary international law to armed opposition groups, see B. Rudolf, above note 135, p. 138; Jean-Marie Henckaerts, “Binding Armed Opposition Groups through Humanitarian Treaty Law and Customary Law”, in Proceedings of the Bruges Colloquium: Relevance of International Humanitarian Law to Non-State Actors, 25–26 October 2002, Vol. 27, 2003, p. 123.

160 For more about the legal personality of armed opposition groups, see V. Bilkova, above note 20; D. Murray, above note 17; M. Sassòli, above note 137.

161 ICJ, Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the Nations, Advisory Opinion, ICJ Reports 1949, para. 8.

162 Jann K. Kleffner, “The Applicability of International Humanitarian Law to Organized Armed Groups”, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 93, No. 882, 2011, p. 454.

163 Report of the Secretary-General on Children in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. S/2005/72, 9 February 2005, paras 69–73, cited in Philip Alston, “The ‘Not-a-Cat’ Syndrome: Can the International Human Rights Regime Accommodate Non-State Actors?”, in P. Alston (ed.), Non-State Actors and Human Rights, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005, p. 18.

164 Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nations Secretary-General Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1564 of 18 September 2004, 25 January 2005, para. 172, cited in J. K. Kleffner, above note 162, p. 454.

165 Report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, UN Doc. A/HRC/22/59, 5 February 2013, paras 106–107, cited in Andrew Clapham, “Non-State Actors”, in Daniel Moeckli, Sangeeta Shah and Sandesh Sivakumaran (eds), International Human Rights Law, 2nd ed., Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2014, Chap. 26, p. 546.

166 P. Alston, above note 163, p. 3.

167 ILC, above note 147.

168 ILC, Draft Articles on Responsibility of States for Internationally Wrongful Acts, with Commentaries, 2001, p. 115, para. 10, available at: https://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/commentaries/9_6_2001.pdf; ICJ, Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences for States of the Continued Presence of South Africa in Namibia (South West Africa), 1971, International Legal Materials, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 677–829, para. 125.

169 See Zaim Nedjati, “Acts of Unrecognized Governments”, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol. 30, No. 388, 1981.

170 ECtHR, Loizidou v. Turkey, ECHR 1996-VI, 1996, p. 2216; ECtHR, Cyprus v. Turkey, ECHR 2001-IV, 2001, paras 89–98.

171 M. Schoiswohl, above note 148, p. 76.

172 ICJ, Namibia, above note 168, para. 125.

173 Ibid., para. 121.

174 See, for example, ICJ, Case Concerning Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Georgia v. Russia), 1 April 2011; ECtHR, Loizidou, above note 170; ECtHR, Catan and Others v. Moldova and Russia, Appl. Nos 43370/04, 8252/05, 18454/06, 2012; ECtHR, Case of Sargsyan v. Azerbaijan, Appl. No. 40167/06, 16 June 2015; ECtHR, Ilascu and Others v. Moldova and Russia, Appl. No. 48787/99, 8 July 2004.

175 See, for example, ICJ, Advisory Opinion Concerning Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, 9 July 2004; ECtHR, Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v. United Kingdom, Appl. No. 61498/08, 30 June 2009; ECtHR, Al-Skeini and Others v. United Kingdom, Appl. No. 55721/07, 7 July 2011.

176 See Human Rights Committee, Mohammad Munaf v. Romania, UN Doc. CCPR/C/96/D/1539/2006, 21 August 2009; Human Rights Committee, above note 89.

177 ECtHR, Bankovic, Stojanovic, Stoimedovski, Joksimovic and Sukovic v. Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, and the United Kingdom, Appl. No. 52207/99, 2001.

178 K. Fortin, above note 17, p. 160, citing ECtHR, Al-Skeini, above note 175.

179 Y. Ronen, above note 157, pp. 28–29.

180 Z. Dabone, above note 17, pp. 415–418.

181 A. Clapham, above note 17, p. 293.

182 Ibid., p. 510.

183 Ibid., p. 496.

184 US Supreme Court, Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 US 557 (2006), 2006.

185 UNICEF, above note 7, p. 11.

186 A. Clapham, above note 17, p. 493.

187 US Supreme Court, Texas v. White, 74 US [7 Wallace] (1869) 700, 1869, p. 733, referenced in S. Sivakumaran, above note 18, p. 511.

188 US Supreme Court, Horn v. Lockhart, 84 US [17 Wallace] (1873) 570, 1873, p. 660, cited in M. Schoiswohl, above note 148, p. 72.

189 UNICEF Innocenti Research Center, Birth Registration: Right from the Start, Innocenti Digest No. 9., Florence, March 2002, p. 6.

190 UNICEF, above note 7, p. 32.

191 S. Sivakumaran, above note 18, p. 512.

192 Report of the Secretary-General on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, UN Doc. S/2017/414, 2017, para. 45, cited in H. Krieger, above note 152, p. 579.

193 As an example of the way that States’ concerns may be overemphasized in politicized discourse, in Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the US Supreme Court ruled that offering IHL training to insurgents resulted in increased funding and legitimacy for those groups, and should be considered tantamount to material support for terrorism. US Supreme Court, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 US 1 (2010) 130 S.Ct. 2705, 2010, cited in Anthea Roberts and Sandesh Sivakumaran, “Lawmaking by Nonstate Actors: Engaging Armed Groups in the Creation of International Humanitarian Law”, Yale Journal of International Law, Vol. 37, No. 107, 2012, p. 135.

194 Rawski, Frederick, “Engaging with Armed Groups: A Human Rights Field Perspective from Nepal”, International Organizations Law Review, Vol. 6, No. 601, 2009, p. 621CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

195 A. Roberts and S. Sivakumaran, above note 193, p. 133.

196 J. Somer, above note 137, p. 663.

197 Ibid., pp. 681, 690.

198 K. Fortin, above note 17, p. 170.