Targeted Killing under International Humanitarian Law
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Abstract
The present article analyses the phenomenon of targeted killing. This controversial practice is widespread and has most notoriously been applied by Israel, the USA and Russia. However, the limited scope allows only to focus on the problems of targeted killing under international humanitarian law (law of armed conflict) even though targeted killing can be analysed under various legal regimes, including international human rights law, the right of self- defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter. For the purpose of the article, targeted killing is defined as ‘the premeditated killing of a specific target (person(s)) suspected of terrorism, with explicit or implicit governmental approval.’ The advantage of using the term ‘targeted killing’ is that it is free from preconceived issues of legality, in contrast to such notions as ‘extrajudicial execution’ or ‘assassination’.
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Articles
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