Fighting an Illegal War and Fighting a War Illegally: the Link between Regime Change Operations and International Humanitarian Law Violations

When States go to war to replace an enemy’s very system of government, the goals of the military campaign can lead to noncompliance with the rules that regulate belligerents during armed conflict. The end result threatens not only international law prohibiting the resort to war except under very specific circumstances, but also international humanitarian law that protects civilians in wartime.