Islamic Law, Co-Sponsored by International Human Rights, International Law and National Security Law

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Session Type: Section Programs

Session Capacity: 126

Hotel: New York Hilton Midtown

Room: Nassau West

Floor: Second Floor

In the past three years, two militant insurgencies have challenged the international order of national borders and understandings of sovereignty in the Middle East and West Africa. The military and political actions of ISIS and Boko Haram have resulted in the taking of large swaths of territory without regard to previously drawn and globally recognized borders, claiming Islamic justification for their actions. ISIS’ self-proclamation as a caliphate, coining money and establishing Sharia courts further presses questions about the nature of Islamic government in a modern world, and its relationship with global international norms of sovereignty. Even more urgently, ISIS and Boko Haram’s enslavement of thousands of war captives and cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners of war and civilians, demands new attention to the relationship of Islamic law with international human rights norms. The conduct of ISIS and Boko Haram have stimulated vigorous debate among legal scholars and opinion-makers around the world on the role of international law, human rights, and Islamic law in the face of such destructive transnational organizations.