The first part examines the origins of the ‘armed conflict’ concept and its development as the lower threshold for the application of international humanitarian law. Here the meaning of the term is traced from its use in the Hague Regulations of 1899 until the present day.
The second part focuses on a number of contemporary developments which have affected the scope of non-international armed conflict. The case law of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia has been especially influential and the definition of non-international armed conflict provided by this institution is examined in detail. It is argued that this concept represents the most authoritative definition of the threshold and that, despite differences in interpretation, there exist reasons to interpret an identical threshold of application in the Rome Statute.
• Provides a detailed analysis of the development of the law, giving the reader insight into its past and potential future development
• Proposes an interpretation of key concepts and provides tools for determining the relevance of international humanitarian law to particular situations
• Deals with complex legal concepts in a clear style, thus helping the reader master one of the most difficult areas of public international law
CONTENTS
PART I - Origins of the non-international armed conflict concept and its development in international humanitarian law
1. The application of international humanitarian norms to internal conflict prior to the Geneva Conventions of 1949
2. Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the threshold of non-international armed conflict in international humanitarian law
3. Changes in the scope of non-international armed conflict resulting from the Additional Protocols of 1977
PART II - The anatomy of non-international armed conflict in international humanitarian law
4. The threshold of non-international armed conflict
5. The concept of non-international armed conflict in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court
6. Conclusion
Anthony CULLEN, The Concept of Non-International Armed Conflict in International Humanitarian Law, Cambridge, Cambridge Studies in International and Comparative Law (234 pp.)