Georgia v. Russia (II) and International Humanitarian Law: Challenge and Opportunity for the European Court of Human Rights
Keywords:
Key words: Georgia v. Russia (II), international humanitarian law, European Court of Human Rights, European Convention on Human Rights, international armed conflict, lex specialis, derogation, right to life, internment, forcible transfer and right of return, destruction of property.Abstract
Following the international armed conflict (‘IAC’) between the Russian Federation and Georgia in August 2008, Georgia lodged an interstate application against Russian Federation before the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’), alleging violations of the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the Convention’) by the Russian armed forces and/or by the separatist forces of Tskhinvali Region/South Ossetia, Georgia, and Abkhazia, Georgia, placed under the control of Russian Federation. The application gave rise to the case Georgia v. Russia (II), declared admissible in 2011 and currently pending before the Grand Chamber of the Court after a hearing on the merits in 2018.
Since IACs are primarily regulated by international humanitarian law (IHL), in Georgia v. Russia (II) the Court is to examine the applicability of the Convention and IHL. While the Court has traditionally distanced itself from applying IHL, over the recent decades the Court’s gradual openness to IHL can be observed. However, the approach of the Court to IHL remains incoherent or contradictory. In this respect, the present article intends to demonstrate that Georgia v. Russia (II) is both a challenge and an opportunity for the Court in terms of its approach to IHL. On the one hand, the Court will have to come out of its comfort zone to deal with the interrelation between the Convention and IHL. On the other hand, Georgia v. Russia (II) enables the Court to develop its working methodology towards IHL within its original mandate.
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