10. The Status Of Captured Fighters In Non-International Armed Conflict

The subject of this chapter is part and parcel of a larger issue, namely the relationship between human rights and international humanitarian law - an issue which remains controversial despite the development it has undergone in both theory and practice during the last fifteen years. The scope of application of international humanitarian law covers situations of armed conflict. In a situation of a non-international armed conflict, human rights law certainly binds the governmental side in relation to the members of dissident groups. Combatants in international armed conflict, when captured, are prisoners of war. In international armed conflict, the core protective legal regime for detainees still is that of the POW status. In current armed conflicts, persons other than combatants, or persons the combatant status of which is not recognised by the detaining power, are deprived of their liberty in various ways, which raises the problem of their legal protection. Keywords: human rights; international armed conflict; international humanitarian law; non-international armed conflict; prisoners