Unravelling Unlawful Confinement in Contemporary Armed Conflicts

Book excerpt: "It is generally accepted that detention in armed conflicts is an inevitable security measure that all warring parties use extensively in their daily operations. In such violent contexts, the legal protection afforded to detainees may be lifesaving. International humanitarian law (IHL) treaties recognise this reality in international armed conflicts by incorporating safeguards from unlawful and arbitrary detention in formulated legal grounds and procedural guarantees that the detaining powers are obliged to follow. The same guarantees are, however, not afforded to people affected by non-international armed conflicts under IHL. Instead, in the absence of a clearly defined international normative framework, security detention remains among the least regulated aspects of military behaviour in this type of armed conflict"--