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Human rights obligations of armed groups exercise control over territory and perform governmental functions

Koy, Rattanakborin LU (2025) JAMM07 20251
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
An increasing amount of people living under the control of armed groups begged
the question on the human rights obligations by armed groups in situation of
protracted armed conflict. Traditionally, international human rights treaties only
impose obligations on states. This raises concerns about the protection vacuum
as well as accountability of the armed groups. A new phenomenon also emerged
where armed groups controlling territory and performed governmental functions
in response to the needs and to make life liveable for the civilian population.
This thesis examines the basis for imposing human rights obligations on armed
groups. In doing so, this thesis employed doctrinal legal research and contextual
doctrinal research. In... (More)
An increasing amount of people living under the control of armed groups begged
the question on the human rights obligations by armed groups in situation of
protracted armed conflict. Traditionally, international human rights treaties only
impose obligations on states. This raises concerns about the protection vacuum
as well as accountability of the armed groups. A new phenomenon also emerged
where armed groups controlling territory and performed governmental functions
in response to the needs and to make life liveable for the civilian population.
This thesis examines the basis for imposing human rights obligations on armed
groups. In doing so, this thesis employed doctrinal legal research and contextual
doctrinal research. In addition to an analysis of legal materials, the study also looks
into this topic from the perspective of rebel governance in political science to
provide contextual understanding of issues at hand. It also examines the
foundation of human rights to justify imposing obligations on armed groups.
The finding demonstrated that the nature of human rights does not limit the duty-
bearers toward state only. Instead, obligation can conceptualize as an inter-
individual obligation or horizontal obligation and obligation of de facto authority
toward its purported subjects. Specifically, armed groups that exercise rebel
governance should be bound by human rights obligations. Furthermore, it also
finds legal basis to impose human rights obligations on armed groups. It argued
that the principle of effectiveness in international law, the devolution of obligation
through territory, and the performance of governmental functions by armed
groups created human rights obligations. (Less)
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author
Koy, Rattanakborin LU
supervisor
organization
course
JAMM07 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
language
English
id
9200379
date added to LUP
2025-06-17 16:36:46
date last changed
2025-06-17 16:36:46
@misc{9200379,
  abstract     = {{An increasing amount of people living under the control of armed groups begged
the question on the human rights obligations by armed groups in situation of
protracted armed conflict. Traditionally, international human rights treaties only
impose obligations on states. This raises concerns about the protection vacuum
as well as accountability of the armed groups. A new phenomenon also emerged
where armed groups controlling territory and performed governmental functions
in response to the needs and to make life liveable for the civilian population.
This thesis examines the basis for imposing human rights obligations on armed
groups. In doing so, this thesis employed doctrinal legal research and contextual
doctrinal research. In addition to an analysis of legal materials, the study also looks
into this topic from the perspective of rebel governance in political science to
provide contextual understanding of issues at hand. It also examines the
foundation of human rights to justify imposing obligations on armed groups.
The finding demonstrated that the nature of human rights does not limit the duty-
bearers toward state only. Instead, obligation can conceptualize as an inter-
individual obligation or horizontal obligation and obligation of de facto authority
toward its purported subjects. Specifically, armed groups that exercise rebel
governance should be bound by human rights obligations. Furthermore, it also
finds legal basis to impose human rights obligations on armed groups. It argued
that the principle of effectiveness in international law, the devolution of obligation
through territory, and the performance of governmental functions by armed
groups created human rights obligations.}},
  author       = {{Koy, Rattanakborin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Human rights obligations of armed groups exercise control over territory and perform governmental functions}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}