Abstract

IBANEZ RIVAS, Juana María. International Humanitarian Law in the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Rev. Derecho Estado [online]. 2016, n.36, pp.167-198. ISSN 0122-9893.

The convergence of International Human Rights Law (IHRL) and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) can be seen in the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as of the year 2000. From that time, and until now, the Court has explicitly referred to IHL in its analysis of certain cases linked to situations of internal armed conflict. In that regard, the Court has been confronted by the need to verify that the facts of the relevant cases actually took place in such contexts and, moreover, has had to justify the reasons why its considerations refer to a legal framework that is external to the Inter-American corpus juris strictly speaking. The case law that has resulted from this practice demonstrates that the Inter-American Court has relied on IHL to complement the content and scope of human rights and of the general obligations of States in cases related to an internal armed conflict; and to integrate it to its reasoning, beyond mere interpretation, through references to the basic principles of IHL and to the consequences of a declaration of a State's international responsibility. As such, the Inter-American Court, the regional organ par excellence for the monitoring of human rights, appears to have also become an indirect, perhaps even a direct, mechanism for the control of IHL.

Keywords : International Human Rights Law; International Humanitarian Law; Inter-American Court of Human Rights; Inter-American corpus juris.

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