New book by Dr Rebecca Sutton explores the way distinction circulates within International Humanitarian Law
Mon 1 March 2021
Dr Rebecca Sutton, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow at Edinburgh Law School, has published a new book titled "The Humanitarian Civilian: How the Idea of Distinction Circulates Within and Beyond International Humanitarian Law".
The Human Civilian was published on 25 February 2021 by Oxford University Press, as part of their Oxford Monographs in International Humanitarian & Criminal Law series. The series has published original and innovative works on challenging issues in international humanitarian law and international criminal justice, primarily by emerging authors.
In her book, Dr Rebecca Sutton uses real-world examples and quotes from qualitative research to show how problems of distinction play out in practice. She provides innovative, empirical analysis of how distinction operates for humanitarian actors, and examines training in detail, to help readers understand how legal rules travel outside of law books to civil-military training spaces.
The Humanitarian Civilian
In international humanitarian law (IHL), the principle of distinction delineates the difference between the civilian and the combatant, and it safeguards the former from being intentionally targeted in armed conflicts. This monograph explores the way in which the idea of distinction circulates within, and beyond, IHL. Taking a bottom-up approach, the multi-sited study follows distinction across three realms: the kinetic realm, where distinction is in motion in South Sudan; the pedagogical realm, where distinction is taught in civil-military training spaces in Europe; and the intellectual realm, where distinction is formulated and adjudicated in Geneva and the Hague.
Directing attention to international humanitarian actors, the book shows that these actors seize upon signifiers of 'civilianness' in everyday practice. To safeguard their civilian status, and to deflect any qualities of 'combatantness' that might affix to them, humanitarian actors strive to distinguish themselves from other international actors in their midst. The latter include peacekeepers working for the UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), and soldiers who deploy with NATO missions. Crucially, some of the distinctions enacted cut along civilian-civilian lines, suggesting that humanitarian actors are longing for something more than civilian status - the 'civilian plus'. This special status presents a paradox: the appeal to the 'civilian plus' undermines general civilian protection, yet as the civilian ideal becomes increasingly beleaguered, a special civilian status appears ever more desirable. However disruptive these practices may be to the principle of distinction in IHL, the monograph emphasizes that even at the most normative level there is no bright line distinction to be found.