The European Court of Human Right’s Engagement with International Humanitarian Law

This chapter evaluates the jurisprudence to the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR” or “the Court”) in order to ascertain how effectively it engages with international humanitarian law (“IHL”). The chapter briefly outlines the nature of the interaction between human rights and humanitarian law, including a discussion of the leading cases from the International Court of Justice and the concept of lex specialis . From that point, the chapter works to assess key cases relating to the extraterritorial application of the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR” or “the Convention”) in situations of military occupation and armed conflict. This section will examine whether the basis for extending jurisdiction beyond the territorial limits of the Convention state is coherent with IHL. Another important facet of the Court’s jurisprudence is its treatment of cases that have arisen in internal conflicts. In such cases, the Court has been even more unwilling to engage with humanitarian law. A brief case study of two subjects that are of central importance in armed conflicts, namely the use of lethal force and the grounds for detention, show that this reluctance is carried through to the interpretation and application of substantive Convention rights. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.