Chapter III. Legal Conclusion or Interpretative Process? Lex Specialis and the Applicability of International Human Rights Standards

Few areas of international law exist in such close, but complex, proximity to other areas of legal regulation as international human rights law. While humanitarian law is conceived of specifically to address the kinds of situations which arise in warfare and the dynamics which underpins them, the relevance and applicability of human rights standards is more subtle and context dependent. This chapter examines the role lex specialis occupies in international legal reasoning. It seeks to use these understandings to shed some further light on the issues of applicability where humanitarian law is concurrently applicable alongside human rights norms. In a very real sense then human rights and humanitarian law cohabit the same factual space during armed conflict. The chapter highlights some important aspects of the complex and nuanced interrelationship between these two bodies of law, focusing on lex specialis as the central bridge between them. Keywords: armed conflict; humanitarian law; international human rights law; international law; legal reasoning; lex specialis