ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the divide between International Armed Conflicts (IACs) and Non-International Armed Conflicts (NIACs), a crucial precursory step to the application of the principle of distinction. It explains how this classification should be made in terms of the law, illustrating the problems inherent in trying to do so and demonstrating how one of the foundational steps for the application of the principle of distinction is a step that often cannot properly be made. The chapter describes how conflicts, and new wars in particular, factually blur the lines between IACs and NIACs. It also describes the means by which these bodies of law are beginning to merge, considering developments in International Criminal Law and International Human Rights Law and the part played by customary international law in reaching this position. In both IACs and NIACs, the trigger for international humanitarian law to apply is the existence of an 'armed conflict'.
