Abstract:

States are still the fundamental entities of the international law system. As a result of the rise of non-international armed conflicts, however, armed non-state actors have started to play an increasing role within the international system and they seriously violate the international humanitarian law and the international human rights law, to which they should be subject and respect for the protection of civilians. Nevertheless, the questions of why these norms should be binding for armed non-state actors and what the legal basis for this are highly disputed in the international law since they are not a party to the norms of human rights and humanitarian law. Although armed non-state actors are one of the most important subjects within the sphere of international humanitarian law, the issue of responsibility for their violations of international humanitarian law has not been adequately regulated within the international law. The direct responsibility of armed non-state actors has gained importance due to their recent evolution. However, this recommended model of direct responsibility has a series of dilemmas from political and legal aspects of the subject. Hence, direct responsibility model continues to remain as one of the grey areas of the international law.

Keywords: