Squaring the Circle? – International Humanitarian Law and Transnational Armed Conflicts

Abstract

Even though the law of armed conflict traditionally recognizes only the dichotomy of international and non-international armed conflict applicable in the normative framework regulating armed hostilities, reality presents situations that do not readily fit into these categories. Foreign State involvement is almost habitual in contemporary conflicts and a significant number of conflicts rage between States and non-State actors not necessarily remaining within the confines of a country.The present paper attempts to examine the legal classification of ‘transnational armed conflicts’, i.e. armed hostilities with a transboundary character that involve non-State actors and thus seemingly escape the classic division of international and non-international armed conflict. After a perusal of legal doctrine and State practice, it concludes that contemporary international humanitarian law is capable of regulating such conflicts and calls for an overhaul of the present system are premature.