The applicability of the law of armed conflict to anti-terrorist military operations

The various international treaties governing armed conflicts – the main Hague Conventions from 1907, to the most recent Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the additional protocols to the Geneva Conventions, and the Conventions on certain conventional weapons from 1977 and 1980 etc. – were mostly enacted focusing on the traditional warfare between or among the States. Therefore, these laws on armed conflict does not encompass directly on the present day complex armed conflict situations involving non-state actors, especially terrorist organisations, which makes the application of the law of armed conflict extremely complicated. This article examines to what extent the law of armed conflict can be applicable, formally or practically, in the present global war on terrorism.