Ius Post Bellum obligations on protection of displaced persons: making a case for the responsibility of States intervening in armed conflicts

Abstract

International Law’s responses on protection of internationally displaced persons fleeing conflicts are traditionally grounded on International Refugee Law. However, this branch of Law presents several gaps in this context: namely, apart from special arrangements, it does not assign a specific responsibility on protection of displaced civilians to any State in particular. On the other hand, traditional theories on State’s responsibility on displacement mainly focus on the responsibility of the State of origin. In this paper, I argue that ius post bellum may be used to assign specific responsibilities on protection to the States that intervened in such conflicts. The paper discusses the concept of “intervening State” and then elaborates on which States may be deemed as “responsible”. Finally, several possible ways of protection will be put forward, departing from the current International Law’s responses in this regard.