Accountability and non-state organised armed groups

Helen Duffy

Chapter 8 in Research Handbook on Accountability for Human Rights Violations, 2025, pp 116-144 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter explores trends, developments, and tensions in the relationship between accountability and organised armed groups (OAGs) under international law and practice. It first addresses the evolution towards greater accountability of OAGs and their members under various areas of international law (IHL, IHRL, and ICL). Increasing practice points to OAGs being called on to meet human rights obligations, including ‘positive’ obligations of prevention, investigation, and accountability. The chapter then explores how international law responds to the increasingly common practice of administration of justice by such groups in conflict situations. Analysis of the law, as interpreted in practice, confirms that these ‘de facto justice’ processes cannot be considered inherently unlawful, with emphasis shifting to whether, and how, the key requirements of fairness, independence, and impartiality can be met. However, whether states can and will cooperate with such processes, which may prove a prerequisite to fulfilling these justice standards, remains controversial. The chapter flags the need for engagement with the tensions and double standards emerging across the spectrum of NSA responsibility, and the potential implications for accountability, victims’ rights, and rule of law in armed conflict.

Keywords: Non-state actors; Prosecution; International humanitarian law; Human rights; Justice; Fair trial; Non-intervention; North East Syria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035306923
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