Toward a Limited Consensus on the Loss of Civilian Immunity in Non-International Armed Conflict: Making Progress through Practice

• Author: Stephen Pomper
• Pages: 181-193

VIII

Toward aLimited Consensus on the Loss of

Civilian Immunity in Non-International

Armed Conflict: Making Progress through

Practice

Stephen Pomper*

I. Introduction and Overview

Aquick glance at the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols is

sufficient to reveal that the treaty rules governing the conduct of parties to

anon-international armed conflict (NIAC) are less developed than those govern-

ing parties engaged in international armed conflicts (IACs). The total number of

treaty provisions governing the latter outstrips the number governing the former

by many dozens. While there is arange of historical and political reasons for this,

there is also acore practical question that appears to have hampered the develop-

ment ofthe law ofarmed conflict (LOAC) with respect to NIACs: How do we iden-

tify the specific actors to whom the rules in this area would apply?

Finding asatisfying answer to this question—which in avariety of ways requires

us to translate from familiar concepts and categories in the world of international

*This article closely derives from apresentation given at the U.S. Naval War College on June 21,

201 1when the author was serving as the Assistant Legal Adviser for Political-Military Affairs at

the U.S. Department of State. This article (like that presentation) was prepared in his personal

capacity and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Department of State or the

U.S. government.