A/HRC/15/21 not nationals”. In a situation of armed conflict, military force can only be used against a combatant or against civilians participating actively and directly in combat activities, which cannot be said of the civilians on the Mavi Marmara. 3. International human rights law 67. Israel is party to the core human rights treaties relevant to the situation under consideration.54 The vessels in the flotilla whilst in international waters were also subject to the jurisdiction of the flag states, namely Cambodia (Rachel Corrie), Comoros (Mavi Marmara), Greece (Eleftheri Mesogios), Kiribati (Defne Y), Togo (Sfendoni), Turkey (Gazze 1) and the United States of America (Challenger 1), The international human rights treaties accepted by each of these States at the time of the incident under investigation were applicable on the relevant vessels. 68. Human rights law in its entirety continues to apply in situations of armed conflict, except for derogations in accordance with treaty provisions relating to times of emergencies. In this respect the Mission notes the recent reiteration by the Human Rights Committee of its view that “the applicability of the regime of international humanitarian law during an armed conflict, as well as in a situation of occupation, does not preclude the application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, except by operation of article 4, whereby certain provisions may be derogated from in a time of national emergency.”55 In its General Comment 29, the Human Rights Committee specified that the Covenant continues to apply in situations of armed conflict to which the rules of international humanitarian law are applicable. “While, in respect of certain Covenant rights, more specific rules of international humanitarian law may be especially relevant for the purposes of the interpretation of Covenant rights, both spheres of law are complementary, not mutually exclusive.”56 69. Moreover, in the Nuclear Weapons Advisory Opinion (1996) the ICJ affirmed the applicability of the Covenant during armed conflict, stating that “In principle, the right not arbitrarily to be deprived of one’s life applies also in hostilities. The test of what is an arbitrary deprivation of life, however, then falls to be determined by the applicable lex specialis, namely, the law applicable in armed conflict which is designed to regulate the conduct of hostilities. Thus whether a particular loss of life, through the use of a certain weapon in warfare, is to be considered an arbitrary deprivation of life contrary to Article 6 of the Covenant can only be decided by reference to the law applicable in armed conflict and not deduced from the terms of the Covenant itself.”57 70. In its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Court considered that "the protection offered by the human rights conventions does not cease in case of armed conflict, save through the effect of provisions for derogation of any kind to be found in Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As regards the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law, there are thus three possible situations: some rights may be exclusively matters of international humanitarian law; others may be exclusively 54 55 56 57 16 ICCPR, ICESCR, CEDAW, ICERD, CAT, CRC and the OP on the involvement of children in Armed Conflict. CCPR/ISR/CO/3, para. 5 Human Rights Committee, general comment No. 29, para. 3, also incorporated into general comment 31, para. 11. Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion of 8 July 1996, 1996 ICJ Reports, p. 226, para. 25.