NON-INTERNATIONAL ARMED CONFLICT IN A NEW ERA OF HUMANITARIAN LAW: GLOBAL AND ASIA-PACIFIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

In an era of unrelenting violence, conflict and hostilities resulting in large scale human suffering around the globe, a much talked about issue of contemporary importance relates to complex academic and political debates on the application of international humanitarian laws (IHL) in non-international armed conflicts (NIAC). The essay purports to portray as to how the post-WWII normative re-innovations in this arena of international law consolidate a broader juristic approach to IHL. With a specific focus on the distinct roles and contributions of the Asia-Pacific region in the development of IHL, the paper argues that the recent jurisprudential spin-off in the doctrine of universality renders atrocious acts and conduct violating fundamental norms of international human rights and humanitarian law in all situations of armed hostilitiesirrespective of their territorial or national jurisdictional characterisation- as international crime accountable with criminal culpability of the perpetrators involved.