1. Introduction Heike Krieger; Part I. Conditions for Compliance by Armed Groups, Focussing on Non-Hierarchical Instruments: 2. Rational motives for civilian targeting in civil war Reed Wood; 3. Insurgent governance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Zachariah Mampilly; 4. The power of persuasion: the role of international non-governmental organizations in engaging armed groups Ulrich Schneckener and Claudia Hofmann; 5. Comment - persuading armed groups to better respect international humanitarian law Olivier Bangerter; 6. Implementing humanitarian norms through non-state armed groups Sandesh Sivakumaran; Part II. Criminal Prosecution: Hierarchical Enforcement on Different Levels: 7. Courts of armed groups a tool for inducing higher compliance with international humanitarian law? Jan Willms; 8. Comment - perspectives on courts established by armed opposition groups Dieter Fleck; 9. The role of international criminal prosecutions in increasing compliance with international humanitarian law in contemporary African conflicts Robert Cryer; 10. National courts: the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo Jean-Michel Kumbu; 11. Comment - the Congolese legal system and the fight against impunity for the most serious international crimes Balingene Kahombo; Part III. International Organisations as Actors for Ensuring Compliance: 12. Enforcing international humanitarian law through human rights bodies Dominik Steiger; 13. Comment - enforcement of international humanitarian law through the human rights organs of the African Union Faustin Zacharie Ntoubandi; 14. The UN Security Councils special compliance systems - the regime of children and armed conflict Regina Klostermann; 15. Ensuring peacekeepers' respect for international humanitarian law Siobhán Wills; 16. Comment - obligations of States contributing to UN peacekeeping missions under Common Article 1 to the Geneva Conventions Matthew Happold; 17. Comment - UN peacekeeping in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: the travails of civilian protection Denis M. Tull; Part IV. The Role of Third States: 18. Common Article 1 to the Geneva Conventions: scope and content of the obligation to ensure respect - narrow but deep or wide and shallow? Robin Geiß; 19. Complicity in violations of international humanitarian law Helmut Philipp Aust; 20. International responsibility for humanitarian law violations by armed groups Kirsten Schmalenbach; Conclusion: 21. Where states fail, non-state actors rise? Inducing compliance with international humanitarian law in areas of limited statehood Heike Krieger.