Extraterritorial Use of Force Against Non-State Actors (Oxford Monographs in International Law) - Hardcover

Lubell, Noam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199584842 ISBN 13: 9780199584840

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2010

Synopsis

This book analyses the primary relevant rules of international law applicable to extra-territorial use of force by states against non-state actors. Force in this context takes many forms, ranging from targeted killings and abductions of individuals to large-scale military operations amounting to armed conflict. Actions of this type have occurred in what has become known as the 'war on terror', but are not limited to this context. Three frameworks of international law are examined in detail. These are the United Nations Charter and framework of international law regulating the resort to force in the territory of other states; the law of armed conflict, often referred to as international humanitarian law; and the law enforcement framework found in international human rights law. The book examines the applicability of these frameworks to extra-territorial forcible measures against non-state actors, and analyses the difficulties and challenges presented by application of the rules to these measures.

The issues covered include, among others: the possibility of self-defence against non-state actors, including anticipatory self-defence; the lawfulness of measures which do not conform to the parameters of self-defence; the classification of extra-territorial force against non-state actors as armed conflict; the 'war on terror' as an armed conflict; the laws of armed conflict regulating force against groups and individuals; the extra-territorial applicability of international human rights law; and the regulation of forcible measures under human rights law. Many of these issues are the subject of ongoing and longstanding debate. The focus in this work is on the particular challenges raised by extra-territorial force against non-state actors and the book offers a number of solutions to these challenges.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Noam Lubell is a Lecturer in international law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway. In previous years he was the Co-Director of an International Law Clinic at the Concord Research Centre in Israel, a Visiting Research Fellow at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and prior to that he was a Senior Researcher at the Human Rights Centre at the University of Essex. He has taught courses on international human rights law and the laws of armed conflict in a number of academic institutions, in the UK, Israel, Ireland, and the US. Alongside his academic work Dr. Lubell has worked with various human rights organisations and has provided consultancies and training in human rights law and the laws of armed conflict for a variety of governmental and non-governmental bodies.

Review

"This book is an important contribution to the discourse on how contemporary
international law can react to the challenge of Non-State Actors participating in
armed conflicts. Lubell is the first author to bring together the area of international
law that regulates the resort to force in the territory of other States, IHL
and IHRL with respect to the extraterritorial forcible measures against
Non-State Actors in one book. As such, the book serves both as a primer for
those who want to familiarize themselves with the system of international law
concerning armed conflicts, and -- more particularly -- as an attempt to apply the
international law system to Non-State Actors...it is a worthwhile
read for students and scholars studying the use of force in international law, and
practitioners working in this area."
--Hadassa A. Noorda, University of Amsterdam

"Libraries, professors, researchers, and international decision-makers would be far better equipped for their respective tasks by including this book on their must read list. Novices and seasoned publicists will appreciate the insightful, provocative, and common sense approach herein presented. It is a superbly written mini-treatise on self-defense and the evolving principles which govern -- and should govern -- the contemporary challenges posed by non-State actors."
--ASIL UN21 Newsletter, Issue #42, September 2011

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0199584842
• ISBN 13: 9780199584840
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 312