Epidemic violence : a new approach to the “Internal Protection Alternative”

Abstract

The present study attempts to readdress some of the elements of analysis of the ‘Internal Protection Alternative’ (IPA) inquiries in contexts of generalized violence, by examining from an epidemiologic perspective the patterns of propagation of criminal violence. It is intended to define some of the qualitative features of ‘epidemic violence’, discuss some of the potentially applicable IPA standards defined by European case-law and subsidiary instruments of interpretation of the Geneva Convention, and demonstrate that the existence of violence occurrence at epidemic proportions should render IPA inquiries unsuccessful and, therefore, unable to be invoked as a ground for rejection.