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Part IV The ICC and its Applicable Law, 30 The Characterization of Armed Conflict in the Jurisprudence of the ICC

Anthony Cullen

From: The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court

Edited By: Carsten Stahn

From: Oxford Public International Law (http://opil.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2023. All Rights Reserved.date: 02 June 2023

Subject(s):
Armed conflict, international — War crimes — Gross violations — Armed conflict, non-international — International criminal law, evidence — International criminal law, conduct of proceedings — Geneva Conventions 1949

The existence of armed conflict is the most fundamental prerequisite for the exercise of jurisdiction over war crimes. This chapter probes the characterization of armed conflict in the case-law of the ICC. It shows that the ICC has relied heavily on the jurisprudence of the ICTY concerning the conceptualization of non-international armed conflict (e.g. Tadić) and internationalization of prima facie internal armed conflict based on the overall control test. It argues that maintaining the integrity of armed conflict as a concept of international humanitarian law is one of the greatest longer-term challenges facing the Court.

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