ABSTRACT
Chapter 1, the introduction to this book, presents the central research question: What is the relationship between the legal regulation and state policies on collective punishment under the law of armed conflict and human rights law and what effects does this relationship have on the protection and empowerment of affected groups? Outlining the main tenets of the following chapters, the introduction traces the approach that is used to address this question, including their core findings. These start with the legal regulation of collective punishment under the law of armed conflict and the development of a prohibition in this field, followed by a case study on collective punishment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Subsequently, collective punishment is examined in relation to human rights law, where no explicit prohibition exists. Building on this discovery and a case study on Chechnya highlighting that collective punishment is used in situations outside armed conflict, the introduction proceeds with an outlook at potential ways to address this gap in human rights law, in particular in relation to the European Convention on Human Rights.
