Addressing Armed Opposition Groups through Security Council Resolutions: A New Paradigm?

Abstract

In the last few decades, the un Security Council has increasingly implemented enforcement measures in the context of many non-international armed conflicts. Both in those cases and in international conflicts, certain resolutions explicitly impose rights and obligations upon all the parties, without making a legal distinction between States and non-State actors, including armed opposition groups. This paper aims to explain some consequences of the approach adopted by the Security Council. Mainly, two issues are dealt with: (a) how does the Security Council address armed opposition groups and to what extent its resolutions impose rights and obligations upon them; (b) if these non-State actors are in fact bound by those resolutions and why. In order to achieve an explanation that grasps the complexity of these issues, the article adopts a systemic approach, which includes the application of the principle of equality of belligerents to Security Council resolutions.