17 Application and Implementation by Armed Non-State Actors

Subject(s):

Armed conflict — Geneva Conventions 1949 — Customary international law

This chapter focuses on armed non-State actors (ANSAs), who are known to be the most prevalent actors operating in contemporary situations of armed violence. It explores how ANSAs’ behaviour has been regulated by international humanitarian law (IHL). Moreover, improving the respect for IHL norms has been one of the international community’s main contemporary policy concerns in protecting civilians better in armed conflicts. Several types of ANSAs have varying aims and ideologies that do not coincide with the IHL. The chapter expounds on international law addressing the issue of ANSAs around the use of force and self-defence. It recognises ANSAs remaining to be influential and powerful in geopolitics and conflicts in the future.