Privacy And ‘Personality’ In Irish And UK Law and the European Convention
Professor David Morgan
Head of English Legal Courses Department
Abstract:
INTRODUCTION
The Arab world has been the stage of political and social upheaval since 2011. The uprisings, which started in Tunisia, swept across the Maghreb. Syria, under an authoritarian regime for over four decades, was not immune to the snowball effect of the so called “Arab Spring”. However, the Syrian uprising came to be the bloodiest of all. It is described as the worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War.
International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is defined as the body of rules or principles in international law which regulate the treatment of civilians and civil objects, combatants and the wounded as well as other persons affected by an armed conflict. The aim of IHL is to minimize the losses, pain and suffering caused in the course of war. There are a number of existing international statutes concerning IHL, the cornerstone of which are, the Geneva Conventions and their Addition Protocols.
The distinction in IHL between an international armed conflict (IAC) and a non-international armed conflict (NIAC), as well as the controversies associated with this distinction, has been brought to the attention of the international community through the ongoing conflict in Syria.
Citing mounting civilian casualties, immense destruction to infrastructure and a rapid deterioration of conditions on the ground, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) designated the conflict in Syria as having reached the threshold of NIAC, or, in more colloquial terms, as having reached the point of civil war().