Suicide Attacks and International Humanitarian Law: Culture, Agency, and Combatant Deaths

Although International Humanitarian Law regulates various aspects of warfare, it remains silent on suicide attacks.Suicide Attacks and International Humanitarian Law interrogates this omission, arguing that it reflects underlying biases and rigid binaries within International Humanitarian Law that struggle to accommodate complex narratives of agency surrounding the deaths of suicide attackers.In this comparative study, Vishakha V. Wijenayake juxtaposes International Humanitarian Law principles with cultural narratives surrounding three distinct cases: the Kamikaze pilots of World War II, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's female suicide attackers in the Sri Lankan non-International Armed Conflict, and martyrdom operations conducted by jihadist non-State armed groups.Integrating insights from anthropology, philosophy, and religious studies, this book analyzes the nuanced embodiments of agency in these contexts, revealing how cultural depictions of suicide attackers challenge Internation