The View through a Different Lens: Increasing Respect for International Humanitarian Law through the Use of the International Human Rights Law Framework

In years past, much of the discussion around International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law has been dedicated to considering the convergence of the two regimes; to discover a way to increase respect for the protection of the individual in armed conflict. Meanwhile, egregious violations of individual’s human rights continue to occur in armed conflicts – those in Ukraine, Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, and many others. This paper surveys the relationship between the two international disciplines, and considers that though ihl and ihrl are two regimes that have different aims, both contain norms that strive for the protection of the individual in armed conflict. Ultimately, this paper argues that protection of individuals in armed conflict can be strengthened by importing ihl norms into the ihrl framework. This cross-pollination allows treaty bodies to interpret, and make comments about, State Parties’ adherence to ihl that can increase respect for those norms, given ihrl’s associated enforcement mechanisms and communications machinery.