6
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN ARMED CONFLICT
continues to apply in situations of armed conflict. Moreover, nothing in
human rights treaties indicates that they would not be applicable in times
of armed conflict. As a result, the two bodies of law—international human
rights law and international humanitarian law—are considered to be
complementary sources of obligations in situations of armed conflict. For
example, the Human Rights Committee, in its general comments Nos. 29
(2001) and 31 (2004), recalled that the International Covenant on Civil
and Political Rights applied also in situations of armed conflict to which
the rules of international humanitarian law were applicable.1 The Human
Rights Council, in its resolution 9/9, further acknowledged that human
rights law and international humanitarian law were complementary and
mutually reinforcing. The Council considered that all human rights required
protection equally and that the protection provided by human rights
law continued in armed conflict, taking into account when international
humanitarian law applied as lex specialis.2 The Council also reiterated
that effective measures to guarantee and monitor the implementation
of human rights should be taken in respect of civilian populations in
situations of armed conflict, including people under foreign occupation,
and that effective protection against violations of their human rights should
be provided, in accordance with international human rights law and
applicable international humanitarian law.
Over the past few years, the application of the rules of international human
rights law and international humanitarian law to situations of armed
conflict has raised a series of questions concerning the implementation of
the specific protections guaranteed by both bodies of law. Their concurrent
application has created confusion about the obligations of the parties to
a conflict, the extent of these obligations, the standards to be applied and
the beneficiaries of these protections.
1
2
S
ee general comments Nos. 29 (2001) on states of emergency (art. 4), para. 3, and
31 (2004) on the nature of the general legal obligation imposed on States Parties to
the Covenant, para. 11.
See the discussion on the application of the principle of lex specialis in chapter II,
section D, below.