Human Rights Violations

This research project focuses on three key issues associated with rebel groups that violate international law.

These three issues are civilian killings, the use of child soliders, and detension visits.

Issue of Civillian Killings

Civlillian killings by rebel groups are a violation of the Geneva Convention Additional Protocol II.

The aim of this protocol was to extend the law of armed conflicts to internal wars.

List of Legal Instruments:

St. Petersburg Declaration (1868)
Geneva Conventions I-IV (1949)
Additional Protocol I & II to the Geneva Conventions (1977)
Rome Statute (1998)

Full Text of Geneva Convention Additional Protocol II

Issue of the use of Child Soldiers

The use of child soldiers is a violation of The Convention of the Rights of the Child.

"The basic premise of the Convention is that children (all human beings below the age of 18) are born with fundamental freedoms and the inherent rights of all human beings."

List of Legal Instruments:

Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions (1977)
Cape Town Principles (1977)
Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)
Paris Principles (1991)
Rome Statute (1998)
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (2000)

Full Text of the Convention of the Rights of the Child

Issue of Detension Visits

Denying access to detainees is against the spirit of the Geneva Convention Common Article 3.

List of Legal Instruments:

Common Article 3 to the Geneva Conventions I-IV (1949)
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966)
Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions (1977)

Geneva Convention Common Article 3