The Application of the European Convention on Human Rights to Military Operations

Analyses the politically charged issue of how the European Convention on Human Rights applies to military operations including recent conflicts in Russia, Iraq and Ukraine. This book will appeal to students, lawyers, civil society and officials throughout Europe working on human rights, public international law and law of armed conflict.

The European Convention on Human Rights is being applied to military operations of every kind from internal operations in Russia and Turkey, to international armed conflicts in Iraq, Ukraine and elsewhere. This book exposes the challenge that this development presents to the integrity and universality of Convention rights. Can states realistically investigate all instances where life is lost during military operations? Can the Convention offer the same level of protection to soldiers in combat as it does to its citizens at home? How can we reconcile the application of the Convention with other international law applicable to military operations? This book offers detailed analysis of how the Convention applies to military operations of all kinds. It highlights the creeping relativism of the standards applied by the European Court of Human Rights to military operations and offers guidance on how to interpret and apply the Convention to military operations.