The Interface of National Security and Humanitarian Law

The Interface of National Security and Humanitarian Law in Situations of Low-Intensity Armed Conflict / High Intensity Emergency

Situations of low-intensity internal conflict pose enormous challenges to the international legal and political community, as the types and complexity of internal armed conflict have proliferated in the post-Cold War and 9/11 eras.  In parallel, serious challenges to democratic states from violent political challengers continue to manifest and have resulted in extensive reliance on national security and counter terrorism regimes.

This workshop is uniquely positioned to explore the overlap between situations of armed conflict to which the LIAC is applicable and situations of emergency in which it is generally assumed that human rights norms primarily apply, with modifications of derogation and other accommodations as demanded by the exigencies of the situation. Given the unique history of Northern Ireland with vigorous debates as to the applicability of IHL during the recent conflict there is much relevant learning to contemporary situations of protracted violence (including Mexico and Colombia) where the overlap between IHL and human rights norms remains contested.

This workshop is being delivered through a partnership between the Transitional Justice Institute (TJI), Ulster University and the Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas (CIDE) in Mexico, funded by the British Academy's Newton Fund from 2017 to 2020.

Speakers will include:

• Professor Fionnuala Ní Aoláin (TJI, Ulster University)
• Dr Thomas Hansen (TJI, Ulster University)
• Professor Giovanni Mantilla (CIDE)
• Professor Pablo Kalmanovitz (CIDE)
• Professor Tom Hadden (TJI visiting professor)
• Professor Fiona de Londras (University of Birmingham)
• Dr Shane Darcy (NUI Galway)
• Professor Sandesh Sivakumaran (University of Nottingham)
• Professor Robert Cryer (University of Birmingham)

Workshop programme

Speaker bios