Keywords
international humanitarian law
international law of armed conflicts
non-international armed conflict
definition of armed conflict
non-international conflict existence guidelines
application margin of the international humanitarian law
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How to Cite
Abstract
Since the issuance of the Geneva Conventions in 1949 there has been a latent confusion in States undergoing internal violence situations related to whether or not non-international armed conflicts exist in their national territories, given that neither Article 3, common to the Conventions, nor the Additional Protocol II of 1977, define what a conflict is. Thus, this research document aims to clarify this matter by means of an analysis of the law, case law, and current legal principles, defining what the application margin is for the International Humanitarian Law to non-international armed conflicts. Afterwards, we aim to clarify another common question: Does International Humanitarian Law apply exclusively to Party States, or does it also apply directly to non-state agents? Finally, this document aims to briefly propose a plausible solution to the problem regarding the confusion created by the lack of a clear definition of armed conflict. Said issue clearly harms the protection that during conflicts must be given at all times to hors de combat or protected population.This journal is registered under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License. Thus, this work may be reproduced, distributed, and publicly shared in digital format, as long as the names of the authors and Pontificia Universidad Javeriana are acknowledged. Others are allowed to quote, adapt, transform, auto-archive, republish, and create based on this material, for any purpose (even commercial ones), provided the authorship is duly acknowledged, a link to the original work is provided, and it is specified if changes have been made. Pontificia Universidad Javeriana does not hold the rights of published works and the authors are solely responsible for the contents of their works; they keep the moral, intellectual, privacy, and publicity rights.
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