10 - The Prohibitions of Torture and Other Ill-Treatment in Armed Conflict under International Humanitarian Law

Summary

The prohibitions of torture and other ill-treatment in armed conflict under international humanitarian law largely reflect the prohibitions under human rights law, but there are also a number of important distinctions. Most obviously, the requirement for the involvement in some manner of a public official does not apply in the case of a non-State armed group that is party to a non-international armed conflict. But international criminal tribunals have also, on certain occasion, interpreted the prohibitions in a manner that does not accurately reflect international law. This chapter summarizes the classification of armed conflict under IHL. It then looks at how the two different classification of armed conflict (international and non-international) prohibit different forms of ill-treatment. The third main section of the chapter discusses the perpetration of these different forms of ill-treatment in selected conflicts going back to the start of the millennium, covering the conduct of Russia (in Ukraine), Syria (especially since 2012), Thailand (in the armed conflict in the south), and the United States (in particular at Guantánamo Bay since 2002).