common article 3 international armed conflict

The next level in the process is marked by the total implosion of government structures, so that the State is no longer legitimately represented before the international community. A particularly alarming development is the proliferation of veritable private armies and “security” detachments, which are often nothing but branches of conglomerates with economic interests and which are free of any real State control. The regular armed forces, which are often one of the only institutions remaining in these weakened States, also gradually fall apart. The government is in effect no longer characterized by uncontested power and a monopoly on the use of force. At a higher level of disintegration, certain crucial structures may formally remain in operation, so that the State can still be legitimately represented before the international community but is nevertheless composed of several warring factions. At the low end of the spectrum, the government may remain in office but have only little control over the population and the territory.

The disintegration of the State occurs at various levels of intensity and may affect different parts of the country.

The State itself does not physically disappear, but gradually loses the capacity to carry out the normal functions of government. In most cases, when State structures collapse, the maintenance of law and order as well as other forms of authority fall into the hands of various factions. It also implies the breakdown of a set of values on which the State’s legitimacy is based, often resulting in a withdrawal of the population into a form of nationalism which is based on religious or ethnic affiliation and which becomes a residual and viable form of identity. It involves the implosion of national institutions, authority, law and order, in short the body politic as a whole. Ī situation of this type has roots that go much deeper than a mere rebellion or coup d’état.

The disintegration of State structures seems to occur when the third constitutive element of statehood, a government in effective control, fades away. Under international law, a State is an entity that has a defined territory and a permanent population, under the control of its own government, and that engages in, or has the capacity to engage in, formal relations with other such entities.

Common article 3 international armed conflict