Episode 52 – Non-State Armed Groups, Human Rights and International Law

Dr Luke Moffett talks to Dr Katharine Fortin about the complexities surrounding the obligations of 'non-state armed groups' under current legal frameworks. The majority of conflicts since the Second World War have been non-international armed conflict (civil war) involving non-state armed groups fighting against state forces, rather than traditional state vs state international conflicts. Yet international law that governs the conduct of war (IHL) and human rights law is aimed at states, which little scope for non-state armed groups' obligations. This podcast explores these issues along with contemporary problems on the return of ISIS detainees and their families, the complexity of armed groups and civilian relationships and reparations by groups like FARC. Assistant Professor Dr Katharine Fortin from Utrecht University, is the winner of the ASIL 2018 Lieber Prize for her book on 'The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law' OUP (2017). She is also co-editor of the 'Armed Groups and International Law' blog (https://armedgroups-internationallaw.org/author/armedgroupsinternationallaw/) and recent recipient of VENI grant, which she is the PI of the project of 'Dangerous Liaisons: Civilian agency, armed groups and international law'. This podcast followed her presentation in the School of Law on 'Non-State Armed Groups and International Law: Engaging on Values and Building Ownership'. Dr Luke Moffett is a senior law lecturer at Queen's University Belfast, and is currently Principal Investigator of the AHRC funded 'Reparations, Responsibility and Victimhood in Transitional Societies' project, which is exploring the role of non-state armed groups in making reparations to their victims, including engagement with nearly two dozen armed groups on these issues around the world. More details of the project can be found here: https://reparations.qub.ac.uk/