Human rights violations and armed groups—a legally grey area

With increasing frequency the United Nations accuses armed rebel groups in conflict areas of violating human rights but there is a considerable lack of clarity about the legal basis on which this is done. Holding parties to an armed conflict to account on the basis of international humanitarian law is uncontroversial but the holding them to account under human rights law raises a myriad of questions. A person must be called to account on legal grounds and in the case of armed groups these are of