Over the past century, ICRC delegates have visited detainees during most armed conflicts. Giving them a unique opportunity to learn deeply about what is happening in such places. This post contains a description of five recent developments in the realities of detention. There are law firms in Yerevan where you can find all law questions. Also, there is a law firm website for this.
Of course, both conflicts and their nature are constantly changing. And with them the practice of detention and the humanitarian problems associated with it. In recent years, many states have made significant efforts to create humane conditions for the detention of all persons deprived of their liberty. However, the lives and dignity of many detainees remain at serious risk. Whether they are holding in detention by State or non-State actors in the conflict. Detainees are too often tortured or ill-treated or held in unacceptable conditions. These problems are of extreme concern, but they are well known. For this reason, we will turn to other, less well-known problems.
Strategic Reasons for Detention and the Significance of Refusal to Detain.
The detention of fighters and civilians, or the imprisonment of a significant number of residents. who lived in territory recently occupied by the enemy. Today is equally strategic and symbolic. In contemporary non-international armed conflicts (NIACs), we see how various belligerents use detention as a show of force. For example, sometimes non-state armed groups use detention as a reminder of their existence. And a claim to their legitimacy. It appears that detention is as important to their legitimacy as control of territory.
Some patterns indicate that the parties to the conflict are using detainees as an additional argument that could influence the outcome of negotiations, when and if they start. Similarly, in some cases, both state and non-state actors appear to have used the incarceration of fighters. And civilians to control or pressure large segments of the civilian population. In these cases, the purpose of detention is to silence the relatives and let them know that their own “misbehavior” will negatively affect their loved ones in detention. Placing them in the position of semi-hostages.
At the same time, we see signs of a dangerous tendency among the opposing sides not to take prisoners at all. In other words, after a series of major battles that have taken place in recent times, we have seen that almost no one has been deprived of liberty. From this, we can conclude that on the battlefield, in all likelihood, many more people died.
The disappearance of persons in custody.
During armed conflict, there is a particularly high risk of people disappearing as a result of poorly organized detention operations. For many detainees, maintaining family ties is as important as obtaining food, water, and medical care. Indeed, the need to enable relatives to receive information about their loved ones captured is one of the main ideas underlying international humanitarian law. The risk of disappearance of detainees, as well as violations of IHL, especially about maintaining family ties, is significantly increased. Due to the almost universal lack of independent oversight of detention operations if detainees are completely isolated from the outside world. And not disclosed in which places they are in detention.
The right of relatives to know the fate and whereabouts of their missing loved ones is a mirror image of the right of detainees to maintain contact with their family. And not be subjected to arbitrary detention or extrajudicial execution. During a non-international armed conflict, several rules of customary IHL apply to prevent the disappearance of people without a trace. They, in particular, provide for the obligation to keep records of the personal data of detainees. And provide them with the opportunity to communicate with relatives. Disappearances of detainees are often accompanied by violations of other fundamental humanitarian requirements. Namely the prohibition of arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or killing. Such disappearances can also lead to various violations of human rights.
