The application of the laws of war in internal conflicts

Abstract

At the outset of this work, it is desirable, for the sake of clarity, to indicate the principal issues involved and the order in which they will be considered. As the title suggests, the writer's overall task is to ascertain to what extent conflicts not between states may be regulated by international rules of law. Included in this will be a consideration of hostilities in which a United Nations Force is involved in peace-keeping action within a state, but not where such a Force is deployed to counter an attack by an aggressor state. The first chapter will be devoted to establishing whether there are any rules of international law that regulate inter-state hostilities and Whether any of these may be applied to other conflicts. The demand for regulation of these other conflicts will then be discussed followed by a consideration of the legal effects of recognition of belligerency and insurgency.