II.  REQUIREMENTS, LIMITATIONS AND EFFECTS OF THE CONCURRENT APPLICABILITY OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN ARMED CONFLICT of these options to restrict the applicability of international human rights and humanitarian law. The following sections will analyse these conditions and clarify how these exceptional regimes could be linked to situations of armed conflict. 1.  Derogation from human rights obligations In certain exceptional circumstances, States are allowed to derogate from their accepted human rights obligations. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, for example, recognizes that “[i]n time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation and the existence of which is officially proclaimed, the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligations under the present Covenant […]” (art. 4.1).53 Yet, derogations are subject to stringent conditions:  The existence of a public emergency: the Human Rights Committee has stated that not every armed conflict qualifies as a state of emergency. In that respect, the Committee has indicated that “[t]he Covenant requires that even during an armed conflict measures derogating from the Covenant are allowed only if and to the extent that the situation constitutes a threat to the life of the nation. If States parties consider invoking article 4 in other situations than an armed conflict, they should carefully consider the justification and why such a measure is necessary and legitimate in the circumstances.”54 Furthermore, the European Court of Human Rights has defined public emergencies as “an exceptional situation of crisis or emergency which affects the whole population and constitutes a threat to the organized life of the community of which the State is composed”;55   Derogation clauses can also be found in the American Convention on Human Rights (art. 27) and in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (art. 15). 54   General comment No. 29 (2001), para. 3. 55   Case of Lawless v. Ireland (No. 3), application No. 332/57, Judgement of 1 July 1961, para. 28. 53 47