Addressing Armed Opposition Groups Through Security Council Resolutions: A New Paradigm?
Max Planck Yearbook of United Nations Law, Volume 18, 2014, pp. 32-67
40 Pages Posted: 24 Jun 2015
Date Written: 2014
Abstract
In the last few decades, the UN Security Council has increasingly implemented enforcement measures in the context of many non-international armed conflicts. Both in those cases and in international conflicts, certain resolutions explicitly impose rights and obligations upon all the parties, without making a legal distinction between States and non-state actors, including armed opposition groups.
This paper aims to explain some consequences of the approach adopted by the Security Council. Mainly, two issues are dealt with: a) how does the Security Council address armed opposition groups and to what extent its resolutions impose rights and obligations upon them; b) if these non-state actors are in fact bound by those resolutions and why. In order to achieve an explanation that grasps the complexity of these issues, the article adopts a systemic approach, which includes the application of the principle of equality of belligerents to Security Council resolutions.
Keywords: United Nations Security Council, Armed Opposition Groups, Equality of Belligerents, Non–International Armed Conflicts, Sources of International Law, International Humanitarian Law
JEL Classification: K19, K30, K33, K42
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation