Marco Longobardo, The Use of Armed Force in Occupied Territory
| Date | 01 January 2020 |
| Pages | 169-171 |
| Published date | 01 January 2020 |
| DOI | 10.3366/elr.2020.0622 |
The military occupation of territory is considered to be an act of aggression and to violate the rule prohibiting such acts and other uses of force in international law (see UN General Assembly Resolution 3314 (XXIX), “Definition of Aggression” (14 December 1974), Article 3). The protection of inhabitants and their rights and respecting the sovereign rights of the ousted government are obligations of an occupier which are embodied in the international law of occupation. However, the occupying powers frequently use armed force against groups opposing the occupation in order to maintain order in occupied territory. Similarly, armed groups of the ousted government or groups opposed to the occupation often use force against the occupier in order to bring an end to the occupation. Longobardo's book is an insightful and compelling study in which the author examines the legal framework of the use of armed force by both occupying powers and opposing armed groups. The book's central concern is the interplay between the human-rights-based legal norms governing law enforcement and the law governing the conduct of hostilities which has been assessed by the author in case law and relevant state practice.
The book consists of seven chapters. Chapter one starts by presenting an overview of the situations that may reasonably be considered occupations on the basis of the practice of states and international organisations, the case law of domestic and international tribunals, and the opinion of legal scholarship (9). This introductory chapter outlines the major sources of state practice regarding the use of armed force in occupied territory, addressing cases from North Cyprus (1974), East Timor (1975), Afghanistan (1978), Kuwait (1990), Nagorno-Karabakh (since 1992), Afghanistan (2001), and Iraq (2003–2004) (9–19).
Having defined occupation as the establishment of a foreign, hostile authority over a portion of territory, chapter two identifies occupation as a fact relevant to international legal order since it triggers the applicability of a number of international rules including the law of occupation, human rights law and humanitarian law. The author is not convinced by the idea that the nature of occupation prevents scrutiny of its legality under international law. Therefore, he believes there is no need to construct a normative approach to the law of occupation (28). The author demonstrates, with case law, a quasi-judicial practice showing that although human rights...
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