Abstract
The majority of armed conflicts no longer take place between states, but within the territory of a single state. In 2011, intrastate conflicts accounted for more than three quarters of the conflicts worldwide (HIIK 2011: 3). In such conflicts, non-state armed groups (NSAGs) hamper processes of peace- and state-building in many ways, thereby directly threatening the security of thousands of civilians (Schneckener 2009, Wisotzki, in this volume). Atrocities against civilians, which the scientific community has recently described as one-sided violence, include massacres, mass rape, the use of child soldiers, and the deployment of landmines. Constraining the conduct of armed groups and increasing their compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is therefore one of the major challenges of the 21st century. United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed: ‘We must […] focus more attention on compliance with International Humanitarian Law by non-state armed groups. Unpalatable as it may be for some States, engagement with such groups is critical’ (UN 2009).
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© 2013 Stefanie Herr
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Herr, S. (2013). Constraining the Conduct of Non-State Armed Groups. In: Jakobi, A.P., Wolf, K.D. (eds) The Transnational Governance of Violence and Crime. Governance and Limited Statehood. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137334428_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137334428_3
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