ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the first stage in the effort to address collective punishment under human rights law and starts with some clarifications on its relationship with the law of armed conflict. Both legal frameworks have different starting points, address different actors and do so with different means. Given that conceptual differences can cause trouble in cases where it is unclear which legal framework applies, the chapter takes note of these debates but reaffirms that the question at stake here is a different one: It is not the prohibition of collective punishment under the law of armed conflict that would be copied and pasted into another legal framework, but a solution has to be found relying on the means available under human rights law. In order to find such a solution, the chapter discusses whether a group right to freedom from collective punishment would be compatible with the conceptual framework of human rights law. Confirming that group rights can be human rights, the chapter holds that a prohibition of collective punishment framed as a collective human right can be encompassed by human rights law. The chapter concludes with a view on group empowerment supporting this claim.
