We use various third-party cookies to provide social media features and to analyze our traffic. Please use the options below to manage your cookie settings. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Please be aware, if you deny cookies, certain features of our website may not work.
This will apply to all services
Google Analytics
YouTube
ICRC
15 October 2018
We have now added to our Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts (RULAC) online portal a detailed analysis and legal classification of the non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) that take place in the Central African Republic (CAR) since December 2012.
Visitors can discover an overview of the conflicts , the factual and methodological basis for their classification as NIACs, state and non-state parties and the applicable international law.
‘The CAR government, supported by the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Mission (MINUSCA) and previously by France, is involved in a NIAC against several armed groups, such as the ex-Séléka and the anti-Balaka groups’ underlines Chiara Redaelli, Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy. ‘Recently, the intensity of armed confrontations between MINUSCA and certain armed groups has increased and led to conclude that it is also a party to the conflict. In addition, there are parallel NIACs among different armed groups which aim to secure and expand their territorial control’ she adds.
‘Our analysis shows that armed groups in CAR, notably ex-Séléka and Balaka armed groups, the Popular Front for the Rennaissance in the Central African Republic (FPRC), the Mouvement Patriotique Centrafricain (MPC), the Union for Peace in the Central African Republic (UPC) and Return, Reclamation and Rehabilitation (3R), exhibit the required degree of organization – existence of a command structure and disciplinary rules and mechanisms; ability to procure, transport and distribute arms; ability to plan, coordinate and carry out military operations; ability to negotiate and conclude agreements – to qualify these conflicts as NIACs’ stresses Chiara Redaelli.
Initiated in 2007, RULAC is an online portal that systematically qualifies situations of armed violence using the definition of armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). While RULAC is still under development and new entries continue to be regularly added, it currently monitors more than 26 armed conflicts involving at least 39 states that visitors can discover either by browsing the map or by browsing conflicts by type or region.
‘The RULAC database is unique in the world in that it legally classifies situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under IHL’ underlines Marco Sassòli, Director of the Geneva Academy.
‘This is crucial because IHL applies only in armed conflicts. Before humanitarian players, civil servants or academics can invoke IHL or analyze whether IHL was violated, they must know whether it applies. Outside armed conflicts, only international human rights law applies’ he adds.
News
Anastasiya Marchuk is the Head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Office in Odesa, Ukraine. She is currently enrolled in our Executive Master in International Law in Armed Conflict and follows the programme online.
News
European Humanitarian Forum
Our Director Professor Gloria Gaggioli participated in the European Humanitarian Forum that took place in Brussels from 21 to 23 March 2022.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course examines the sources of international humanitarian law and provides an introduction to its key principles and terminology.
Short Course
ICRC
This short course, which can be followed in Geneva or online, provides an in-depth study of an emblematic example of the complexity of international humanitarian law and the challenges it raises: the classification of armed conflicts.
Project
The Rule of Law in Armed Conflicts project (RULAC) is a unique online portal that identifies and classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law (IHL). It is primarily a legal reference source for a broad audience, including non-specialists, interested in issues surrounding the classification of armed conflicts under IHL.
Project
Shutterstock
This project will explore humanitarian consequences and protection needs caused by the digitalization of armed conflicts and the extent to which these needs are addressed by international law, especially international humanitarian law.
Publication
