Swiss Review of International and European Law Logo Schulthess juristische Medien AG
 
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This article critically outlines the developments of the approach by the European Court of Human Rights on the articulation between International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law. The Court was at first reluctant to apply International Humanitarian Law and opened timidly to this set of rules in order to corroborate the interpretation of the provisions of the European Convention of Human Rights in the context of international armed conflicts. It incidentally examined the evolution of the law of armed conflict while applying the principle nullum crimen sine lege and took humanitarian law into account in some cases, without however basing the resolution of the dispute on this branch of law. The article explores this evolution until the most recent development, the direct invocation or even parallel application of humanitarian and human rights law in the cases of Marguš v. Croatia and Hassan v. United Kingdom to support an essential aspect of its reasoning.