Armed conflict

Standards of International Humanitarian Law apply to situations of armed conflict. Armed conflicts are either labelled as international armed conflicts, or non-international armed conflicts. As a result, armed conflict exists when there is either an armed confrontation between the armed forces of States or between governmental authorities and organized armed groups or between such groups within a State.

The level of violence necessary to constitute an armed conflict differs between international and non-international armed conflicts. This is mainly a result of a state's sovereign mandate to apply law enforcement efforts to curtail intra-state violence, such as internal disturbances and tensions are not considered to be armed conflicts.