The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has notably passed judgments on violations of the European Convention committed by European countries in relation to their intervention in Iraq and military occupation of the country (infra Jurisprudence).Īccording to humanitarian law, occupation falls in the definition of international armed conflict and is regulated as such by the four Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I. These decisions thus confirm that the application of international humanitarian law is complementary to the conventions on human rights in these situations. Several recent decisions by international courts have also confirmed that the occupying power is obliged to comply with its human rights obligations in occupied territories and in respect of people placed under its effective control as a result of occupation or detention. 42).Ĭontemporary international humanitarian law has clarified and added to the rights and duties of occupying forces, the rights of the populations of occupied territory, and the rules for administering such territory (GIV Arts. International humanitarian law stipulates that the definition of occupation only extends to territories where such authority has been established and can be exercised (H.IV Art. This definition takes into account the effective control of the territory by a hostile authority and seeks to regulate the responsibility of such an authority. These are very old regulations that, according to the International Court of Justice, have acquired the status of international customary law (infra Jurisprudence). Section III of the regulations details the rights and obligations of the military authority over enemy territory (Arts. The definition still in force and commonly used nowadays is the one contained in the Regulations Concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land annexed to the Fourth Hague Convention of 18 August 1907 (H.IV).

The definition of occupation and the obligations of the occupying power were initially codified at the end of the nineteenth century. In international law, a territory is considered “occupied” when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.

What is the meaning of occupied