A Hidden Fault Line: How International Actors Engage With International Humanitarian Law’s Principle of Distinction

Abstract

While IHL’s principle of distinction is organized around a civilian-combatant binary, this chapter attends to an important fault line that is obscured by that binary arrangement—this hidden fault line exists within the civilian category. As will be shown, among the diverse international actors who engage in international interventions today, there are marked civilian-civilian tensions. This chapter suggests, in particular, that international humanitarian actors are constructing themselves as a special civilian category, distinguished both from combatants and also from other civilians. To illuminate these dynamics, this chapter draws on original empirical findings from field research conducted at civil-military trainings in Sweden, Germany, and Italy.

Keywords: International Humanitarian Law; the concept of the civilian; international actors; armed conflict; comprehensive missions; civil-military training