Abstract:

Temporal scope of international humanitarian law is of crucial importance to determine exactly when this body of law starts to apply in an armed conflict. It is much more difficult to determine the starting point of application of humanitarian law regarding non-international armed conflicts than international armed conflicts. Thus, there is an ongoing debate on whether or not an internal disturbance can be classified as a non-international armed conflict and the fact that when humanitarian law begins to apply in these conflicts. When intensity of the internal disturbance exceeds a certain threshold, it is acknowledged that humanitarian law can be applied to these conflicts, however it is not always straightforward to identify where an internal disturbance ends and when a non-international armed conflict starts. Therefore, this article investigates when the rules of international humanitarian law begin to apply in case of non-international armed conflicts.

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