Targeting drug lords: Challenges to IHL between lege lata and lege ferenda

This article aims to clarify how international humanitarian law (IHL) rules on targeting apply when drug cartels are party to a non-international armed conflict. The question of distinguishing between a cartel's armed forces and the rest of the cartel members is a pertinent matter. It is crucia...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational review of the Red Cross (2005) Vol. 105; no. 923; pp. 652 - 673
Main Authors Redaelli, Chiara, Arévalo, Carlos
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.08.2023
Subjects
Armed Forces
Cartels
Drug control
Drug dealers
Drug trafficking
Drugs
Humanitarian law
Humanitarianism
International law
Organized crime
Politics
Rule of law
Transnationalism
Violence
Mexico
targeting
drug cartels
international humanitarian law
armed non-State actors
non-international armed conflicts
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Summary:This article aims to clarify how international humanitarian law (IHL) rules on targeting apply when drug cartels are party to a non-international armed conflict. The question of distinguishing between a cartel's armed forces and the rest of the cartel members is a pertinent matter. It is crucial to avoid considering every drug dealer a legitimate target, just as we do not consider that everyone working for the government is a legitimate target. Nevertheless, it is unclear at what point a member of a cartel would change from being a criminal to being a member of the armed wing of the cartel, hence becoming a legitimate target. The present article will suggest a teleological approach to solving this conundrum.
Bibliography:International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 105, No. 923, Jun 2023, 652-673
Informit, Melbourne (Vic)
ISSN:1816-3831
1607-5889
DOI:10.1017/S1816383123000024