Determining the intensity threshold in a mosaic of non-international armed conflicts from Lubanga to Ongwen : the contribution of the International Criminal Court to a cumulative assessment approach
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Determining the intensity threshold in a mosaic of non-international armed conflicts from Lubanga to Ongwen : the contribution of the International Criminal Court to a cumulative assessment approach
Die oorgrote meerderheid van hedendaagse konfliksituasies word geken aan 'n mosaiek van
geweld waar verskillende rebellemagte gedurende dieselfde tydperk binne dieselfde
geografiese ligging oorlog voer. Die toerekening van die gevolge van sodanige geweld om te
bepaal of 'n bilaterale konflik, wat deel uitmaak van die mosaiek van geweld, aan die
intensiteitsvereiste voldoen om sodanig 'n burgeroorlog daar te stel, is 'n onbegonne taak.
Hierdie artikel ondersoek die vraag of 'n kumulatiewe assesseringsmetode gebruik kan word
om te bepaal of die totale geweld wat in sekere komplekse burgeroorloe ontstaan,
uitgebreide gewapende geweld daarstel, sodat oorlogsreg op sodanige situasie toepassing
kan vind. Die relevante regspraak van die Internasionale Strafhof word in hierdie verband
ondersoek. Ek voer aan dat daar wel in sekere situasies 'n noodsituasie ontstaan, asook dat
dit juridiese ondersteuning is vir die gebruik van 'n kumulatiewe assesseringsmetode in
stede van die tradisionele bilaterale metode om gewapende geweld-gebonde komplekse
burgeroorloe te assesseer. Die onlangse Ongwen-saak, soos op 4 Februarie 2021 deur die
Internasionale Strafhof beslis, word ook onder die vergrootglas in did artikel ontleed.
Description:
For a discussion of mixed armed conflicts, see Akande "Classification of armed conflicts:
Relevant legal concepts" in Wilmshurst (ed) International law and the classification of
conflicts (2012) 631; Geiss "Armed violence in fragile states: Low-intensity conflicts, spillover
conflicts, and sporadic law enforcement operations by third parties" (2009)
International Review of the Red Cross 133; Radin "Global armed conflict? The threshold
of extraterritorial non-international armed conflicts" 2013 International Law Studies 724.
Such complex conflict situations include the mosaic of violence that raged in Yemen in the period around 2017 and the ongoing situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC). For an overview of the situation in Yemen up to 2017, see Arraf "The war report
2017: The armed conflict in Yemen: A complicated mosaic" The Geneva Academy of
International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, October 2017, available at The Armed
Conflict in Yemen.pdf (geneva-academy.ch) (accessed 25-02-2021). For a mapping of the
multiplicity of non-international armed conflicts co-existing in the DRC during 2019, see
Rulac Geneva Academy "DRC: A mapping of non-international armed conflicts in Kivu,
Kasai and Ituri" (5 February 2019) blog post available at DRC: A Mapping of Non-
International Armed Conflicts in Kivu, Kasai and Ituri Rulac (accessed 25-02-2021).