Holding Armed Non-State Actors Responsible Under International Law: An Analysis to Broaden the Extent of International Humanitarian Law
Author: Aayush Akar & Aditya Gautam, Students, National Law University, Odisha
Best Citation – Aayush Akar & Aditya Gautam, Holding Armed Non-State Actors Responsible Under International Law: An Analysis to Broaden the Extent of International Humanitarian Law, Indian Journal of Legal Review (IJLR), 3 (1) of 2023, Pg. 34-40, ISSN – 2583-2344.
Abstract
Terrorism, which is far more brutal and barbaric than the two world wars, is wreaking the greatest destruction on humankind in recorded history in the 21st century. Even as humanity sobs, war lords and terrorist organisations continue to grow like wildfire and claim the lives of innocent people. Especially dangerous instances of the threat machines are the armed non-state actors of terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS, and Boko-Haram. However, they are still exempt from the scope and application of international criminal law and are not subject to ICC prosecution. In both law and practise, the range of international obligations that apply to non-state organisations is surprisingly underdeveloped.
This essay tries to investigate and analyse how non-state actors, such as terrorist groups, might be included under the purview of international humanitarian law and how to prosecute them at the ICC for crimes against humanity. As international criminal law can play a crucial role in combating terrorism by providing equal justice for victims, fair treatment of suspects, and alternatives to collective assignments of guilt that result in the perpetuation of group-based hatred, discrimination, and xenophobia, as well as by holding terrorist organisations accountable before international criminal tribunals and by incorporating international humanitarian law and fundamental human rights norms into its corpus juris. The same legal remedies that the system of international criminal justice has provided should be available to terrorism victims.
Keywords: Terrorism, non-state actors, violence, human rights, obligations & international law