Armed conflict
An armed conflict arose whenever there is fighting between States or protracted armed violence between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or just between organized armed groups. An international armed conflict arises when one State uses armed force against another State or state [Icrc.org].
The classification of situations of armed violence pursuant to international humanitarian law criteria has important consequences in the international legal system. In particular, states involved in armed conflicts will have rights and duties that do not exist outside an armed conflict.
International humanitarian law distinguishes between two categories of armed conflict: international and non-international armed conflicts. Despite contemporary challenges to the legal dichotomy between international and non-international armed conflicts, there is no other category of armed conflict under international humanitarian law.
There is not a single definition of armed conflict under international humanitarian law. Instead, international humanitarian law distinguishes between international armed conflicts and armed conflicts ‘not of an international character.’ Military occupations are a particular form of international armed conflict.
Pursuant to a widely accepted general definition of the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ‘an armed conflict exists whenever there is a resort to armed force between States or protracted armed violence between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups within a State.’ In other words, there is an international armed conflict whenever there is a resort to armed force between states, regardless of the intensity of such force. The distinction between international and non-international armed conflict is thus based on two factors:
- The structure and status of the parties involved are different. International armed conflicts involve sovereign states. In contrast, non-international armed conflicts involve states and organized armed groups.
- The threshold of the intensity of violence is different. The level of violence required to trigger an international armed conflict is significantly lower than that necessary to constitute a non-international armed conflict [Rulac Geneva Academy].
The law of armed conflict. Icrc.org. Retrieved from: https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/assets/files/other/law1_final.pdf
Classification of armed conflicts. Rulac Geneva Academy. Retrieved from: https://www.rulac.org/classification#collapse1accord