The 'nexus' between international humanitarian law, international human rights law and international criminal law

Abstract

A brief glance at global affairs exposes a world which remains blighted by international crimes, conflict and human rights abuses. The heavy human suffering of this unfortunately subsisting reality was particularly acknowledged by the international community following the experience of the Second World War. Thus the international legal landscape witnessed a massive growth in the development of legal principles and instruments seeking to provide protection to the individual. Three chief areas which flourished were International Humanitarian Law, International Human Rights Law and International Criminal Law. While, the first two protect the individual by establishing legal norms tending to his protection, the third criminalises the conduct and ensures accountability of the violator. Therefore, there is a clear point of interaction between the three regimes resulting in a nexus which characterises the relationship between the three. This dissertation focuses on this particular aspect of the relationship between the three regimes and studies the nexus which binds the three bodies of law. The relationship is distinguished by the multiple regulation of the same or similar concepts. Thus the study undertakes to examine instances of interaction, and both diverging and converging norms. It traces the concurrent application of the regimes and the dynamics between them. In pursuance of this aim, reference is made to a number of international instruments and the extensive body of case-law which has emerged from international courts and tribunals. The analysis of the nexus between the three bodies of law, as well as the state responsibility arising in the context, assists in understanding their relationship and the manner in which they function. Thus, this study explores the way in which the three regimes function concurrently within the system of public international law and thereby afford international protection to the individual.