Legitimate Targets: What is the Applicable Legal Framework Governing the Use of Force in Rio de Janeiro?

The belief that the favelas of Rio de Janeiro constitute a ‘war zone’ is widely held in Brazilian society. intensity violence and level organization some armed actors are comparable to those officially recognized non-international conflicts elsewhere world. As increasingly fought situations where it challenging distinguish civilians from combatants, binary divisions international law failing address contemporary experience what has been termed ‘new wars’. There an emerging agreement jurisprudence state practice provisions human rights humanitarian must be concurrently applied recognised zones’. This article argues this analysis could also used other violence, such as Janeiro, but ‘armed conflict’ rhetoric risks conferring legitimacy use lethal force between its parties.