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International Humanitarian Law and Internationalized Internal Armed Conflicts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 1982

Dietrich Schindler
Dietrich Schindler*
Affiliation:
Professor at Zürich University Member of the ICRC
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Extract

Internationalized internal armed conflicts have become a common feature of the past decades. In numerous civil wars foreign armed forces have intervened in favour of one or the other party and thereby attempted to influence the outcome of the conflict. Various causes have led to this development. One of them is the increased interdependence of States, as a consequence of which every civil war will affect other States and, conversely, the attitudes of other States may have an impact on the outcome of the civil war, even without any intervention. Another cause can be found in the world's ideological cleavage which divides nations and results in the overlapping of internal and international conflicts. Among further causes we can mention the existence of military blocs and of regional groupings which have an interest in preventing the overthrow of régimes within the bloc and tend to encourage alterations in other blocs. Another factor to be taken into consideration is the prohibition of the use of force in international relations. Whereas in earlier times States waged open wars in order to increase their power, today, due to the prohibition of the use of force, they rather endeavour to achieve the same result by interfering in the internal affairs of other States. Interference in internal conflicts is often a substitute for an international war. The instability of many contemporary régimes, mainly of the Third World, further favours the internationalization of internal conflicts.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 22 , Issue 230 , October 1982 , pp. 255 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1982

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References

1 International Review of the Red Cross, 1965, p. 417.Google Scholar

2 Meyrowitz, H., Le droit de la guerre dans le conflit vietnamien, Annuaire français de droit international, 1967, p. 153 CrossRefGoogle Scholar and especially pp. 167–169. English translation: “The Law of War in the Vietnamese Conflict”, in Falk, R. A. (ed.), The Vietnam War and International Law, vol. 2, Princeton, 1969, p. 516, esp. pp. 521–533.Google Scholar

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4 International Committee of the Red Cross, Report on the Work of the Conference of Government Experts, 1971, para. 284.

5 Ibid. para. 301.

6 International Committee of the Red Cross, Report on the Work of the Conference of Government Experts, 1972, vol. I, para. 2.332 ff.

7 Ibid. 1971, para. 133; 1972, vol. I, para. 0.14 ff. and 2.71. Official Records of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, Geneva 1974–1977, p. 203, 217.

8 In the Vietnam war the relationship between the United States and North Vietnam was considered as falling into this category.

9 In the Vietnam war the relationship between North and South Vietnam was considered as falling into this category.

10 In the Vietnam war the relationship between the government of South Vietnam and the National Liberation Front of South Vietnam (NLF, Vietcong) was considered as falling into this category.

11 See Schindler, D., State of War, Belligerency, Armed Conflict Google Scholar, in Cassese, A. (ed.), The New Humanitarian Law of Armed Conflict, Naples, 1979, 3, 5–6 Google Scholar; Wilhelm, (note 3) 326–331 Google Scholar; Ch. Zorgbibe, , La guerre civile, Paris, 1975, 36 iff.Google Scholar, 71 ff.; Zorgbibe, , Sources of the Recognition of belligerent status Google Scholar in International Review of the Red Cross, 03, 1977, p. 111.Google Scholar

12 See Reaffirmation and Development of the Laws and Customs Applicable in Armed Conflicts, a report submitted by the ICRC to the Twenty-first International Red Cross Conference at Istanbul, 1969, p. 116; and Conference of Government Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, ICRC, Geneva, 1971 Google Scholar, Documentation submitted by the ICRC, V pp. 19–21.Google Scholar

13 This would, however, not prevent the established government from trying such prisoners of war for high treason or similar crimes (Article 85 of the Third Geneva Convention).

14 Meyrowitz (note 2), Annuaire français 173, Falk (ed.) p. 538.Google Scholar

15 Meyrowitz (note 2), Annuaire français 167, Falk (ed.) p. 531.Google Scholar

16 In the Vietnam war the relationship between the Vietcong and the United States was considered as falling into this category.

17 It has been argued that such has been the case in Cambodia since 1978.

18 It has been argued that this has been the case in Afghanistan since 1979.