Human Rights Obligations of Non-State Armed Groups in Non-International Armed Conflicts

Nowadays the vast majority of armed conflicts are non-international conflicts. Mostof these conflicts, which last for along time take place between one or more non-state armed groups with one country or between such armed groups within the territory ofa state. The proliferation ofarmed groups in recent decades aswell as the growing impact ofthese armed groups on civilians, has caused the international community's concern. Given the protracted nature of these armed conflicts, as well as the wide range of governmental and non-governmental activities in which armed groups participate international humanitarian law is unable to regulate the relations between armed groups and civilians about activities that have no nexus to armed conflict. The law that applies to these cases is human rights law. Although it is wieldy accepted that human rights law also applies in armed conflicts given to the nature of human rights law that was created to regulate the relationship between states and individuals within their jurisdiction the applicability of human rights law on armed groups leads to many controversies between states and doctrine. Despite these controversies, current legal practice tends to argue that armed groups who exercise de facto control over territory are bound by human rights law. In this article by examining practice and doctrine, we try to prove that armed groups are bound by human rights law.