Armed Conflict and Forcible Displacement : Individual Rights under International Law

With millions of individuals around the world affected by the consequences of armed conflict and displacement, the need for a stronger, more coherent and effective legal framework relating to the right not to be displaced, to return home and to property restitution becomes even more compelling. This volume combines critical comparative perspectives on questions relating to displacement caused by armed conflict on the basis of national and international law looking at a number of case studies from Europe, Africa and the Americas. The book particularly focuses on whether a right not to be displaced and to return home as well as to property restitution exists in contemporary international law.

This book addresses the involuntary and arbitrary displacement of individuals resulting from armed conflict and gross human rights violations. It shows that forcible displacement constitutes a serious violation of international law and of fundamental community interests.

Armed Conflict and Forcible Displacement provides a critical legal analysis of the contemporary international framework, permeating forcible displacement in these circumstances and explores the rights that individuals possess with specific focus on the right not to be displaced and, where this fails, the right to return home and to receive property restitution. In doing so, this volume marries together different fields of international law and builds on the case studies of Cyprus, Colombia, Cambodia and Syria. While the case studies considered here are far from exhaustive, they are either little explored or present significant challenges due to the magnitude of displacement or contested international jurisprudence.

Through this analysis, the volume exposes some of the legal challenges that individuals encounter in being protected from forcible displacement, as well as the legal obstacles that persist in ensuring the return of and the recovery of property by the displaced.　It will be of interest to those interested in the fields of international law, human rights law, as well as conflict and war studies.