The Classification of Battlefield Actors during Non-International Armed Conflict

This Chapter seeks to address the legal and factual challenges resulting from the proliferation of battlefield actors through a framework for the classification of battlefield actors during NIAC. This framework is predicated on the factual and legal distinction between the concept of a ‘Party’ to a NIAC, actors that ‘belong’ to a Party to a NIAC, and actors ‘supporting’ a Party to a NIAC. The Chapter is comprised of four sections. The first section introduces the rationale that underpins and informs the proposed framework, and outlines its practical application. The second section explores the concept of a Party to a NIAC, and in particular the distinction between a Party and the ‘armed forces‘ of a Party. The third section seeks to define the external parameters of a Party to a NIAC by way of the concept of ‘belonging’ under IHL. The fourth section will explore the concept of ‘supporting’ a Party to a NIAC to determine if and when the arrival of new actors on the battlefields of existing NIACs are bound by and subject to IHL, and in doing so, will interrogate the concepts of associated forces and co-belligerents, both of which are contrasted against the support-based approach advanced by the ICRC.