Chapter

Identifying an armed conflict not of an international character

Sandesh Sivakumaran

The emerging practice of the International criminal court

Leiden ; Boston : Martinus Nijhoff, 2009

p. 363-380

English

Inherent in article 8(2)(c) and 8(2)(e) is the notion of an "armed conflict not of an international character", an idea that appears in common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. Quite what is meant by this phrase is the subject of this chapter. Part 2 will seek to give it some meaning, using factors identified by the ad hoc international criminal tribunals, primarily those of the intensity of the violence and the level of organisation of the armed group. Part 3 will consider whether the threshold of article 8(2)(e) is the same as that of article 8(2)(c), or whether a higher threshold has been created as a result of the requirement in article 8(2)(f) that the armed conflict be "protracted". Regard will be had to how that requirement came to be included in the statute and how it has subsequently been interpreted by a pre-trial chamber of the International Criminal Court.