The "unwilling or unable" doctrine and the right of self-defence against non- state actors ABSTRACT For several decades, the fight against international terrorism has been a major challenge for the entire international community. States try to fight these non-state actors in various ways. One of them is trying to neutralize a non-state actor in the territory of the state in which this actor has settled and from which he is preparing and coordinating his attacks. States often invoke the right to self-defense in the case of such actions, stating that the state in whose territory the non-state entity is located is unable or unwilling to deal with it on its own. This paper is devoted to the right to self-defense against non-state actors and the emerging doctrine of "unwilling or unable". The paper is divided into an introduction, four main chapters and a conclusion. The first chapter is devoted generally to the prohibition of the use of force and the threat of force. The second chapter deals with the right to self-defense. First, attention is paid to the right to self-defense in general, where an armed attack is discussed in more detail. Subsequently, a restrictive and extensive approach to the right to self-defense is presented. Attention is then paid more to the preemptive and preventive self-defense and the...

The unwilling or unable doctrine and its development in international law Abstract The unwilling or unable doctrine represents a response of the international community to the increasing presence of non-state actors in international relations. According to this doctrine, a state who suffers an attack by a non-state actor is entitled to intervene in the territory of the state where this non-state actor finds its harbour, given that this state is unwilling or unable to tackle the threat alone. This, in turn, means that the harbouring state must endure an intervention by the attacked state on its territory, even though the harbouring state has not resorted to the use of force itself - the action of the non-state actor is not attributable to it. This thesis first pays attention to the concept of self-defence, in terms of its two equivalent content sources - customary and contractual international law. Both of these sources set certain (pre)conditions for the exercise of the right to self-defence. In the case of customary law, these are conditions of necessity, proportionality and immediacy. The UN Charter then determines one further precondition for exercising the right to self-defence - the existence of a previous armed attack. Given that the unwilling or unable doctrine is a specific example of how states...

The purpose with this paper is to analyze the temporal scope of the doctrine of Unwilling or Unable and focus on when the right to use force in self-defense ends. According to the doctrine a State has a right to use force in self-defense towards a non-state actor on another States territory, if the harboring state is Unwilling or Unable to suppress the non-state actor. This paper will first analyze which factors governs the right to use force in self-defense according to the Unwilling or Unable doctrine and secondly the findings will be applied to the situation in Syria, where the United States are using force in collective self-defense on Iraq’s request, towards ISIL. The conflict will be analyzed in three different time periods, 2014, 2016 and 2018 to identify for how long the United States has a right to use force in self-defense in Syria. The conclusion in this paper is that in 2014 and 2016 the United States has a right to use force in self-defense towards ISIL on Syria’s territory according to the doctrine, but in 2018 the circumstances has changed and the United States’ right to use force in self-defense in Syria has ended.