The Conservationist Principle under International Humanitarian Law versus a Transformative Occupation in a Human Rights Context

Abstract

This article presents a discussion about the necessary evolution of the law of occupation facing the obligations set for by the International Human Rights regime, based on the law of State responsibility. In the first section of this two-part study, the article delivers a state of the art through the analysis of doctrine and both universal and regional jurisprudences on State responsibility based on the extraterritorial application of International Human Rights Law. On the second part, the article provides analysis on temporal (beginning and end) and territorial aspects of occupation that have a direct impact on the obligation to respect and to ensure the rights of every subject to the State’s jurisdiction. In the final section, the article discusses the clash between the traditional conservationist principle and the transformative occupation principle. This study employed a logic-inductivist method. To conclude the discussion, this study is in the position that the conservative principle under International Humanitarian Law is considered archaic; and should give way to better protection of human rights in an international occupation context.