To Serve the Enemy: Informers, Collaborators, and the Laws of Armed Conflict

A constant yet oftentimes concealed practice in war has been the use of informers and collaborators by parties to an armed conflict. Despite the prevalence of such activity, and the serious and at times fatal consequences that befall those who collaborate with an enemy, international law applicable in times of armed conflict does not squarely address the phenomenon. The recruitment, use and treatment of informers and other collaborators is addressed only partially and at times indirectly by international humanitarian law. In this book, Shane Darcy examines the development and application of the relevant rules and principles of the laws of armed conflict in relation to collaboration. With a focus on international humanitarian law as may be applicable to various forms of collaboration, the book also offers an assessment of the relevance of international human rights law.

About the Author :
Shane Darcy, Senior Lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Ireland Dr. Shane Darcy is a senior lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, in the National University of Ireland Galway, a globally recognized institution for teaching and research on human rights and humanitarian law. He has published widely in the fields of international humanitarian law, criminal law, and human rights, including articles in leading peer-reviewed journals such as the International Review of the Red Cross, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Leiden Journal of International Law, The Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law, and the Military Law Review.

Review :
"Shane Darcy's new book To Serve the Enemy: Informers, Collaborators, and the Laws of Armed Conflict is an impressive and bold addition to existing legal literature. It is an invaluable injection of fresh scholarship into a complex human and legal issue. The subject of this book laid for a long time at the margins of legal discussions. No more. Darcy's important book will bring an understanding of that interesting topic to a broader audience and no doubt contribute to generate more interest for it." -- Professor Guénaël Mettraux, Judge, Kosovo Specialist Chambers "Shane Darcy has produced a masterly examination of the role of collaborators, informers, and others who assist the enemy in situations of armed conflict. Darcy offers a sophisticated and incisive discussion and analysis of this underexamined part of the practice of armed conflict through the lens of international law, which is sure to become the signal work on the topic." -- Dr Emily Crawford, University of Sydney Law School "Just as I was thinking there is nothing new under the IHL sun, along comes Shane Darcy�s remarkable study of how international law regulates the use of informers and collaborators in armed conflict. To Serve the Enemy is rigorous, erudite, informative � and best of all fascinating. Darcy�s book deserves to be read widely and no doubt will." -- Prof. Kevin Jon Heller, Associate Professor of Public International Law, University of Amsterdam, Professor of Law, Australian National University "A rich and unique contribution to IHL literature which taken the little known category of collaboration with the enemy in war and explores fully its substance and consequences in law and practice. The book beautifully combines historical, literary, legal and political sources to give a nuanced and complex analysis of what cooperation with enemy forces means in practice. Bravo to Dr. Darcy for new insights and insightful analysis." -- Professor Fionnuala NNi Aoláin, Regents Professor, University of Minnesota Law School, UN Special Rapporteur Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights "This authoritative work is amply evidentiary of the author's erudite scholarship. Readers are struck by Darcy's comprehensive and thorough examinations of primary sources, which include not only the case-law of international and national tribunals and human rights treaty-based bodies, but also historical documents of diplomatic conferences dating back to the second half of the nineteenth century. ... Future scholarships of international law and international relations will owe hugely to Darcy for his deft ability to weave such a coherent web of enriched legal discourses. This book will no doubt become one of the �classics� in the twenty-first century." -- Professor Yutaka Arai, Professor of International Law and International Human Rights Law, Brussels School of International Studies, University of Kent