Lex IS? - Utvecklingen av staters självförsvarsrätt mot icke-statliga aktörer
(2020) LAGF03 20202Department of Law
Faculty of Law
- Abstract (Swedish)
- En av folkrättens mest grundläggande normer är det allmänna våldsförbudet som regleras i artikel 2(4) i FN-stadgan. Självförsvarsrätten utgör ett undantag till detta förbud vilket framgår av artikel 51 i FN-stadgan. En mycket omdebatterad fråga inom folkrätten är frågan huruvida det finns en rätt till självförsvar mot icke-statliga aktörer. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka denna fråga och behandlar utvecklingen av rättsläget i relation till de två händelser som framförallt har påverkat debatten, attacken i USA den 11 september 2001, och bekämpandet av terrororganisationen IS från år 2014 och framåt. Uppsatsen undersöker även hur rättsläget såg ut tidigare, innan attacken den 11 september 2001.
Självförsvarsrätten mot... (More) - En av folkrättens mest grundläggande normer är det allmänna våldsförbudet som regleras i artikel 2(4) i FN-stadgan. Självförsvarsrätten utgör ett undantag till detta förbud vilket framgår av artikel 51 i FN-stadgan. En mycket omdebatterad fråga inom folkrätten är frågan huruvida det finns en rätt till självförsvar mot icke-statliga aktörer. Denna uppsats syftar till att undersöka denna fråga och behandlar utvecklingen av rättsläget i relation till de två händelser som framförallt har påverkat debatten, attacken i USA den 11 september 2001, och bekämpandet av terrororganisationen IS från år 2014 och framåt. Uppsatsen undersöker även hur rättsläget såg ut tidigare, innan attacken den 11 september 2001.
Självförsvarsrätten mot icke-statliga aktörer är som sagt mycket omdebatterad och det råder stor oenighet både inom det internationella samfundet och inom doktrinen huruvida en sådan rätt ens kan erkännas, och i så fall hur långt en sådan rätt sträcker sig. Viss konsensus råder kring att en självförsvarsrätt mot icke-statliga aktörer inte kan ha ansetts ha folkrättslig legitimitet under tiden innan attacken den 11 september men att denna händelse förändrade rättsläget. Världssamfundets i princip eniga stöd för USA:s efterföljande militära operation ’Operation Enduring Freedom’ i Afghanistan, som vidtogs på basis av självförsvarsrätten visade en framväxande internationell sedvanerätt som accepterade en självförsvarsrätt mot icke-statliga aktörer. Rättsläget är dock fortfarande oklart gällande i vilken mån den territoriella staten varifrån den icke-statliga aktören verkar måste anses ha koppling till den icke-statliga aktören för att legitimera militära åtgärder i självförsvar på statens territorium.
Denna fråga blev på nytt högaktuell då den USA-ledda koalitionen utförde attacker mot IS på syriskt territorium utan samtycke från den syriska staten, och hävdade att detta var tillåtligt enligt självförsvarsrätten. Slutsatsen i denna uppsats är att trots den något utvidgade självförsvarsrätten mot icke-statliga aktörer som kan anses ha blivit accepterad i efterdyningarna av ’Operation Enduring Freedom’ kan inte den militära våldsanvändningen på syriskt territorium vid bekämpandet av IS anses varit tillåtlig enligt internationell sedvanerätt. Detta framförallt då det saknas koppling mellan den syriska staten och IS, och då Syrien inte kan anses ha villigt upplåtit sitt territorium till IS. Rättsläget är dock än idag mycket oklart och utvecklingen av självförsvarsrätten mot icke-statliga aktörer ger inte ett entydigt svar på hur långt denna rätt sträcker sig. (Less) - Abstract
- One of the most fundamental rules of international law is the prohibition on the use of force contained in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The right to self-defence constitutes an exception to this prohibition and is contained in Article 51 of the UN Charter. A much-debated question within international law is the question whether there exists a right to self-defence against non-state actors. This thesis aims to examine this question and addresses the development of the legal situation in relation to the two events that mainly have affected this debate, the attacks against the United States on the 11th of September 2001 and the fight against the terrorist organization IS from the year 2014 and onwards. The thesis also examines the legal... (More)
- One of the most fundamental rules of international law is the prohibition on the use of force contained in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The right to self-defence constitutes an exception to this prohibition and is contained in Article 51 of the UN Charter. A much-debated question within international law is the question whether there exists a right to self-defence against non-state actors. This thesis aims to examine this question and addresses the development of the legal situation in relation to the two events that mainly have affected this debate, the attacks against the United States on the 11th of September 2001 and the fight against the terrorist organization IS from the year 2014 and onwards. The thesis also examines the legal position of the time before the 9/11 attacks.
The right to self-defence against non-state actors is as mentioned subject to debate and there is a vast dissonance among both the international community and the legal scholarship whether such a right can be accepted, and if so, how far that right extends. There is some consensus that a right to self-defence against non-state actors could not have been considered to have legitimacy under international law before the 9/11 attacks, but that this event changed the legal position. The support that the following US military operation in Afghanistan, ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’, secured from the international community on the basis of the right to self-defence, showed an emerging change in customary international law that accepted the right to self-defence against non-state actors. However, the legal situation remains unclear as to what extent the territorial state from which the non-state actor operates must be considered connected to the non-state actor in order to legitimize military measures in self-defence on the territory of that state.
This question became highly topical once again when the US-led coalition initiated attacks against IS on Syrian territory, without the consent of the Syrian state, and claimed that this was legitimate under the right to self-defence. This thesis concludes that even with the expanded right to self-defence that can be considered to have been accepted in the aftermath of ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’, the use of force on Syrian soil in the fight against IS cannot be deemed lawful under international customary law. This is especially so when there was no connection between the Syrian state and IS, and when Syria cannot be considered to have willingly harboured IS. The legal position is though still unclear and the development of the right to self-defence against non-state actors does not provide a clear answer to how far this right extends. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9034229
- author
- Bisting, Ellen LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- LAGF03 20202
- year
- 2020
- type
- M2 - Bachelor Degree
- subject
- keywords
- folkrätt, självförsvarsrätt, public international law, self-defence, use of force
- language
- Swedish
- id
- 9034229
- date added to LUP
- 2021-02-09 11:52:41
- date last changed
- 2021-02-09 11:52:41
@misc{9034229,
abstract = {{One of the most fundamental rules of international law is the prohibition on the use of force contained in Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The right to self-defence constitutes an exception to this prohibition and is contained in Article 51 of the UN Charter. A much-debated question within international law is the question whether there exists a right to self-defence against non-state actors. This thesis aims to examine this question and addresses the development of the legal situation in relation to the two events that mainly have affected this debate, the attacks against the United States on the 11th of September 2001 and the fight against the terrorist organization IS from the year 2014 and onwards. The thesis also examines the legal position of the time before the 9/11 attacks.
The right to self-defence against non-state actors is as mentioned subject to debate and there is a vast dissonance among both the international community and the legal scholarship whether such a right can be accepted, and if so, how far that right extends. There is some consensus that a right to self-defence against non-state actors could not have been considered to have legitimacy under international law before the 9/11 attacks, but that this event changed the legal position. The support that the following US military operation in Afghanistan, ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’, secured from the international community on the basis of the right to self-defence, showed an emerging change in customary international law that accepted the right to self-defence against non-state actors. However, the legal situation remains unclear as to what extent the territorial state from which the non-state actor operates must be considered connected to the non-state actor in order to legitimize military measures in self-defence on the territory of that state.
This question became highly topical once again when the US-led coalition initiated attacks against IS on Syrian territory, without the consent of the Syrian state, and claimed that this was legitimate under the right to self-defence. This thesis concludes that even with the expanded right to self-defence that can be considered to have been accepted in the aftermath of ‘Operation Enduring Freedom’, the use of force on Syrian soil in the fight against IS cannot be deemed lawful under international customary law. This is especially so when there was no connection between the Syrian state and IS, and when Syria cannot be considered to have willingly harboured IS. The legal position is though still unclear and the development of the right to self-defence against non-state actors does not provide a clear answer to how far this right extends.}},
author = {{Bisting, Ellen}},
language = {{swe}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Lex IS? - Utvecklingen av staters självförsvarsrätt mot icke-statliga aktörer}},
year = {{2020}},
}