LOCATION CHANGE:
LEGAL THEORY WORKSHOP SERIES
presents
Claire Finkelstein
Algernon Biddle Professor of Law and Professor of Philosophy
University of Pennsylvania
Contemporary Armed Conflict and the Non-State Actor
Friday, September 9, 2016
12:30 - 2:00
Jackman Law Building, Rm. J230
78 Queen's Park
Recent challenges in international security posed by two terrorist organizations, Al Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), have highlighted an urgent domestic and foreign policy challenge, namely, how to address the threat posed by violent non-state actors while adhering to the rule of law values that form the core of democratic governance. Despite the vital importance of this topic, the legal framework for conducting operations of this magnitude against non-state actors has never been clearly identified. The Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) is organized around the assumption that parties to an armed conflict are “combatants,” meaning that they are members of a state military acting in the name of that state. Norms of conduct are unclear with regard to non-state actors, and there are few consistent legal principles to provide guidance. A tendency in recent years among legal scholars has been to argue that LOAC must adapt to fit the new asymmetric nature of armed conflict. In 2002, Donald Rumsfeld announced, upon the arrival of the first batch of detainees to Guantanamo prison, that members of these organizations actively threatening United States security are “unlawful combatants,” and as such not subject to the Geneva Conventions. Against the background of this conviction, the fault does appear to lie with LOAC, and that legal principles must evolve to meet current needs in combatting terror. Law, however, is generally thought of as a constraint, rather than an instrument for achieving other goals. This talk will address the status of unlawful combatants under existing International Humanitarian Law and ask whether our current national and international legal frameworks can accommodate and provide a coherent legal framework for addressing the threat posed by non-state actors in current asymmetric conflict.
A light lunch will be provided.
To be added to the paper distribution list, please contact Nadia Gulezko at n.gulezko@utoronto.ca. For further information, please contact Professor Larissa Katz (larissa.katz@utoronto.ca) and Professor Sophia Moreau (sr.moreau@utoronto.ca).
