ICRC opinion paper - IHL
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has published a paper presenting the prevailing legal opinion on the definition of "international armed conflict" and "non-international armed conflict" under International Humanitarian Law.
In applying or interpreting the Qualification Directive, relevant authorities from some EU Member States have generally referred to the scope of application of the 1977 Additional Protocol II to the 1949 Geneva Conventions in order to define the term "internal armed conflict". However, the definition found in Additional Protocol II encompasses only some of the non-international armed conflicts recognized in International Humanitarian Law. Most of these situations are also or only covered by article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949.
Although notions of International Humanitarian Law (IHL) should not necessarily be used in dealing with Refugee Law, IHL concepts must be appropriately understood when mentioned.
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