The Personal Scope of Non-International Armed Conflict

This chapter, which is divided into four sections, examines the personal scope of IHL during NIAC by identifying the principal bearers of obligations and beneficiaries of protection. The first section analyses the conventional ratione personae architecture of both CA3 and APII to identify areas of convergence and divergence between the two and determine whether a single ratione personae framework exists for NIAC. The second section identifies the principal bearers of IHL obligations and explores how and when IHL creates obligations for both entities and individuals. The third section determines the primary beneficiaries of protections, with an exclusive focus on the concept of civilian during NIAC. The fourth section explores the relationship between obligations and protections by examining the phenomenon of intra-Party violence to determine whether and, if so under what conditions, IHL provides legal protection to non-opposing forces during NIAC.