Terrorism and International Humanitarian Law

The ICRC position: IHL and the counter-terrorism framework are distinct legal regimes. IHL applies in armed conflict and regulates the conduct of all parties — state and non-state. The CT framework applies in peacetime and to acts that fall outside an armed conflict. The collapse of the distinction in post-2001 state practice — treating any non-state armed group as 'terrorist' and refusing to apply IHL to its members — is documented by the ICRC as a doctrinal problem. The controlling reference for IHL application in protracted internal conflicts.