ABSTRACT
This part demonstrates that the borders between the rules applicable in armed conflict and in peacetime, on the one hand, and those applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts, on the other, have become blurred during the last decades. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) as well as the Ottawa and Oslo Conventions, which are all applicable in absolute terms, imposing on the States Parties the duty not to use, develop, produce, acquire, stockpile, or retain these weapons "never under any circumstances", fit well into this new legal landscape. The Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) constitutes an interesting and the most recent example of a treaty that builds a bridge between human rights, humanitarian law, and arms control law. In all the treaties examined, it has been observed that human rights law in a broad sense has to be taken into account, embracing civil and political rights, as well as economic, social, and cultural rights.
