Human shields constitute part of the reality of contemporary armed conflicts, primarily fought in urban contexts. As such, they pose a host of complex legal issues, notably for destabilizing the traditional categorizations of international humanitarian law.
In this post, part of our special series on urban warfare, Zoi Lafazani, PhD candidate and researcher in international law, describes the current state of affairs within international humanitarian law when it comes to human shields and indicates why a legal vocabulary can often be inappropriate and obscure the political dimension of human shielding.
