Les questions de genre dans le développement pour l’avancement des droits des femmes et de leur statut ont connu un intérêt croissant au niveau universel, notamment depuis les années 1990 et la Conférence mondiale sur les femmes du Beijing de 1995.L’enthousiasme suscité autour de ces questions est ainsi illustré par les moyens mis en œuvre au Timor par la communauté internationale dans ce domaine en parallèle du processus d’établissement de l’Etat de droit et de construction de ce nouvel Etat dans le contexte post-conflit dans lequel celui-ci se trouve, l’assimilant parfois à un « laboratoire » des Nations Unies pour la mise en œuvre des principes internationaux relatifs à l’établissement de l’Etat de droit et à l’approche de genre dans la reconstruction et la gestion d’un Etat ainsi que des mécanismes de contrôle des droits de l’homme au bénéfice de la femme. Se basant sur une recherche empirique, la présente étude tente ainsi d’analyser de quelle manière le droit international influence non seulement les droits des femmes au Timor d’un point de vue formel, mais aussi et surtout leur statut au sein de la société timoraise. / Gender issues in development for the advancement of women's rights and their status have gained increasing attention at the universal level, particularly since the 1990s and the 1995 Beijing World Conference on Women. The enthusiasm for these issues can be illustrated by the means implemented in Timor by the international community in this field in parallel with the process of establishing the rule of law and the construction of this new State in a post-conflict context, making equating it as a United Nations "laboratory" for the implementation of international principles related to the establishment of the rule of law and the gender approach in the reconstruction and management of a State as well as the evaluation mechanisms of human rights to the benefit of women. Based on an empirical research, the present study attempts to analyze how international law not only affects formal women's rights in Timor but also, and especially, the status of women within Timorese society.

Since 1945, there has been a proliferation of armed groups in conflict theatres across the globe. Although these groups exist outside of the regular forces of States, they are in most instances supported and controlled by States. Despite this, the complicit support of States in the commission of international crimes by armed groups is not recognised under international law and the tests of control through which the conduct of individuals could be attributed to States are almost impossible to meet. This allows States to maintain compelling roles in international crimes committed by armed groups with impunity. Despite this, the role played by States in modern international conflict has received only intermittent attention in the literature. This thesis seeks to address this disparity by addressing the critical role of State support of armed groups in the commission of international crimes by challenging the existing tests of attribution of conduct to States under the present rules of international responsibility. Therefore this thesis asks whether there can be variation to the current tests for attribution of conduct of individuals who are members of non-State armed groups to States which provide support to them, by approaching the interpretation of "control" in a purposive, less literal manner. It argues this by analysing the limitations of the current law through selected case studies. It further examines alternative approaches in the fields of international human rights law and international criminal law, again through selected case studies with a view to determining whether they can assist in crafting more purposive approaches towards the determination of State control over armed groups. This will augment the current corpus of literature by suggesting improvements that can, hopefully, pass into the lex lata and stymie continued State impunity in this area.