An international armed conflict occurs when one or more States have recourse to armed force against another State, regardless of the reasons or the intensity of this confrontation. No formal declaration of war or recognition of the situation is required. The existence of an international armed conflict, and as a consequence, the possibility to apply International Humanitarian Law to this situation, depends on what actually happens on the ground. It is based on factual conditions. Apart from regular, inter-state armed conflicts, Additional Protocol I extends the definition of international armed conflicts to include armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination, alien occupation or racist regimes in the exercise of their right to self-determination (Wars of national liberation).   See also Application; Armed conflict; Internationalised armed conflict; Non-international armed conflict;

 OUTLINE

Chapter 2, III. 1. A. International armed conflict

 DOCUMENT

ICRC, International humanitarian law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts in 2011

 LEGAL SOURCE

common 2 (see ICRC updated Commentary)

PI, 1/4

 CASES

Convention on the Safety of UN Personnel

Malaysia, Osman v. Prosecutor

Israel, Applicability of the Fourth Convention to Occupied Territories

South Africa, Sagarius and Others

South Africa, S v. Petane

United States, United States v. Noriega (Part B. II. A.)

Belgium, Belgian Soldiers in Somalia

Case Study, Armed Conflicts in the former Yugoslavia (26)

ICTY, The Prosecutor v. Tadic (Part C., Paras. 87-162)

Case Study, Armed Conflicts in the Great Lakes Region (Part 3. A.)

ICJ, Democratic Republic of the Congo/Uganda, Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Paras. 29-33, 51-52, 178, 217-218)

United States, Status and Treatment of Detainees Held in Guantanamo Naval Base (Parts I. and II.)

US, US v. Marilyn Buck

Georgia/Russia, Human Rights Watch’s Report on the Conflict in South Ossetia

Georgia/Russia, Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in South Ossetia (Para. 9)

ECHR, Al-Jedda v. UK

ECHR, Hassan v. UK

ECHR, Al-Skeini et al. v. UK

ICRC, International Humanitarian Law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts in 2015 [Paras. 26, 29-35, 54]

Italy, Use of force against ambulances in Iraq

Spain, Universal Jurisdiction over Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions

Germany, Aerial Drone Attack in Mir Ali/Pakistan

Syria, Syrian rebels treat captured Filipino soldiers as 'guests'

Central African Republic/Democratic Republic of Congo/Uganda, LRA attacks

Central African Republic, Coup d'Etat

ECCC, Detention Sites in Cambodia

 BIBLIOGRAPHIC RESOURCES

BARTELS Rogier, “Timelines, Borderlines and Conflicts: the Historical Evolution of the Legal Divide between International and Non-International Armed Conflicts”, in IRRC, Vol. 91, No. 873, March 2009, pp. 35-67   BYRON Christine, “Armed Conflicts: International or Non-International?”, in Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Vol. 6, No. 1, June 2011, pp. 63-90.   CRAWFORD Emily, “Blurring the Lines Between International and Non-International Armed Conflicts: The Evolution of Customary International Law Applicable in Internal Armed Conflicts”, in Australian International Law Journal, Vol. 15, 2008, pp. 29-54   SASSÒLI Marco, “The Legal Qualification of the Conflicts in the former Yugoslavia: Double Standards or New Horizons for International Humanitarian Law?”, in WANG Tieya & YEE Sienho (eds), International Law in the Post-Cold War World: Essays in Memory of Li Haopei, Routledge, London, 2001, pp. 307-333   SCHINDLER Dietrich, “The Different Types of Armed Conflicts According to the Geneva Conventions and Protocols”, in Collected Courses, Vol. 163, 1979, pp. 119-163.   VERHOEVEN Sten, “International and Non-International Armed Conflicts”, in Institute for International Law K.U. Leuven, Working Paper No. 107, 2007, 22 pp.   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