non international armed conflict definition

Internal armed conflicts or civil wars were then exclusively governed by domestic law (But see Emmer Vattel 1758,

Jus ad Bellum consisted exclusively of the right to use force between States, and Jus in Bello was only a law for combatants on behalf of States.

States were, if not the the only subjects of international law, by far the most important. Until the Geneva Conventions (GC) of 1949, War and Peace, and then conflicts, were considered exclusively a matter for States. Why do we pay special attention to this matter? The characterization of the situation as that of a NIAC is extremely important as it governs the applicable law and may open operational/legal venues for legitimizing offensive lethal action and administrative detention, without prejudice to the implementation of Human Righs Law and domestic constitutional and criminal Law. We’ll go through some general and historical perspective about conflicts, We’ll then enter into what can be said about NIACs and how to define them: we’ll go trough their typology, which is an evolving and debated one and we’ll conclude with definitions provided by treaty and case law. With this brief, we’ll cover the definition of NIAC and try to determine what is the range and scope of application of this concept.

What constitutes a Non International Armed Conflict (NIAC) ?

Non international armed conflict definition