This general expression covers confrontations between
- two or more States (See International armed conflict);
- a State and a body other than a State (See War of national liberation);
- a State and a dissident faction (See Non-international armed conflict);
- two or more organized armed groups within a State (See Non-international armed conflict).
See also International armed conflict; Non international armed conflict; National liberation wars; Application
For Armed conflict at sea, see: Naval warfare
For armed conflict in air, see: Air warfare
OUTLINE
DOCUMENTS
CASES
International Law Commission, Articles on State Responsibility [Part A., Art 8 and Commentary]
ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Tadic [Part A., paras 67-70 and 96; Part E., paras 37-100]
ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Boskoski
ICTR, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Paul Akayesu [Part A., para. 601]
South Sudan: Medical Care Under Fire
United Kingdom, The Case of Serdar Mohammed (High Court Judgment)
Syria, Press conference with French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin
ICRC, International Humanitarian Law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts in 2015 [paras 71, 73-79]
Israel/Palestine, Operation Protective Edge (Gaza, 13 June - 26 August 2014)
United Kingdom, The Case of Serdar Mohammed (Court of Appeal and Supreme Court Judgments)
Mali, Accountability for the Destruction of Cultural Heritage
El Salvador, Supreme Court Judgment on the Unconstitutionality of the Amnesty Law
United States, Jurisprudence Related to the Bombing of the U.S.S. Cole
Iraq/Syria/UK, Drone Operations against ISIS
ICC, Confirmation of Charges against LRA Leader
ICRC, Statement - War in Cities ; What is at Stake?
UN/Colombia, Human Rights Committee Clarifications and Concluding Observations (2016)
Belgium, Prosecution of Terrorist Crimes in the context of Armed Conflict
ECJ, Aboubacar Diakité v. Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides
Germany, Aerial Drone Attack in Mir Ali/Pakistan
Eastern Ukraine, Attacks Against and Military Use of Schools
Eastern Ukraine, OHCHR Report on the Situation: November 2016 - February 2017
Central African Republic/Democratic Republic of Congo/Uganda, LRA attacks
Central African Republic, Coup d'Etat
Iraq, Crimes by Militia Groups
Central African Republic, No Class: When Armed Groups Use Schools
Syria: Attacks on Oil Infrastructure
BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES
DAHL Arne Willy & SANDBU Magnus, “The Threshold of Armed Conflict”, in Revue de droit militaire et de droit de la guerre, Vol. 3-4, No. 45, 2006, pp. 369-388
O’CONNELL Mary Ellen, Defining Armed Conflict”, in Journal of Conflict & Security Law, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2008, pp. 393-400
SCHINDLER Dietrich, “The Different Types of Armed Conflicts According to the Geneva Conventions and Protocols”, in Collected Courses, Vol. 163, 1979, pp. 153-156.
STEWART James G., “Towards a Single Definition of Armed Conflict in International Humanitarian Law: a Critique of Internationalized Armed Conflict”, in IRRC, No. 850, June 2003, pp. 313-349
VITE Sylvain, “Typology of Armed Conflicts in International Humanitarian Law: Legal Concepts and Actual Situations”, in IRRC, Vol. 91, No. 873, March 2009, pp. 69-94