Pursuant to the principle of equality of belligerents, international humanitarian law applies equally to all parties to an armed conflict: Every party to an armed conflict has the same rights and obligations under international humanitarian law, not more or less obligations depending on whether or not their resort to force is lawful or not. Kleffner, ‘The Applicability of International Humanitarian Law to Organized Armed Groups’, 93 (882) International Review of the Red Cross, 2011, p 443. However, there are different explanations why and how international humanitarian law binds non-state armed groups, see for example J. In this respect, international humanitarian law is different from international human rights law which primarily binds states. International humanitarian law binds all parties to an armed conflict, including non-state armed groups. Those who are participating in hostilities are protected by the prohibition of using means or methods of warfare that are of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering. In particular, it prohibits means and methods of warfare that do not discriminate between those who are not or no longer participating in hostilities and those who do. On the other hand, international humanitarian law limits the means and methods of warfare, or, in other words, the weapons and tactics that may be used. On the one hand, it provides for the protection of those who are not or no longer participating in hostilities, such as civilians, the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, or captured combatants. International humanitarian law strives to limit the effects of armed conflicts.

International humanitarian law, also called the law of armed conflict or the law(s) of war, is the branch of international law that regulates conduct in an armed conflict. Legal framework » International humanitarian law

Laws of armed conflict principles