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Our Rule of Law in Armed Conflict Online Portal (RULAC) classifies all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under international humanitarian law.
Today, it monitors more than 110 armed conflicts and provides information about parties, the latest developments, and applicable international law. Some of these conflicts make the headlines, others do not. Some of them started recently, while others have lasted for more than 50 years.
Discover
This is, in numbers, the most affected region: more than 45 armed conflicts are currently taking place throughout the Middle East and North Africa in the following territories: Cyprus, Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Yemen and Western Sahara.
The majority are non-international (NIACs), involving a multitude of armed non-state actors and foreign interventions by Western powers, Russia, and neighbouring countries – except for the NIACs taking place in Egypt and Turkey.
‘Syria is the most affected country in the region. Several multiple and overlapping NIACs are taking place in the country – involving numerous armed groups who fight against the government and against each other –, along with two military occupations and three international armed conflicts’ explains Dr Chiara Redealli, Research Fellow at the Geneva Academy.
© Mahmoud Sulaiman, Unplash
Africa comes second in the number of armed conflicts per region with more than 35 non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) taking place in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, South Sudan and Sudan. Several armed groups – fighting against government forces and/or against each other’s – are involved in these conflicts.
Western powers and/or neighbouring countries are intervening in the NIACs that take place in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Somalia.
‘CAR is on the top of the list with several NIACs involving multiple armed groups. The Government is involved in NIACs against a wide array of rebel groups, including the anti-Balaka and the ex-Séléka. There are also parallel non-international armed conflicts due to the infighting between various armed groups’ underlines Dr Redealli.
© UN Photo/Stuart Price
Western powers and/or neighbouring countries are intervening in the NIACs that take place in Burkina Faso, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Somalia.
‘CAR is on the top of the list with several NIACs involving multiple armed groups. The Government is involved in NIACs against a wide array of rebel groups, including the anti-Balaka and the ex-Séléka. There are also parallel non-international armed conflicts due to the infighting between various armed groups’ underlines Dr Redealli.
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Asia is the theatre of 19 non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) involving 19 armed groups. These are happening in Afghanistan, India, Myanmar, Pakistan and The Philippines.
Two international armed conflicts – between respectively India and Pakistan, and between India and China – are also taking place in the region.
‘Pakistan and the Philippines are on the top of the list with six NIACs for each country. In Pakistan, governmental forces are fighting various armed groups acting throughout the territory, particularly Taliban-affiliated groups in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and independence fighters in Balochistan. In the Philippines, most NIACs are taking place in the Mindanao region where government forces are fighting against several armed groups, including the Moro National Liberation Front, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters, the Maute Group and the Abu Sayyaf Group’ explains Dr Chiara Redealli.
© ICRC
The following military occupations constitute the majority of armed conflicts that are taking place in Europe, four out of seven conflicts: Russia is currently occupying Crimea (Ukraine), Transdniestria (Moldova), as well as South Ossetia and Abkhazia (Georgia), while Armenia is occupying parts of Nagorno Karabakh (Azerbaijan). Europe is also the theatre of an international armed conflict (IAC) between Ukraine and Russia, and of two non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) in Ukraine opposing governmental forces with the self-proclaimed ‘People’s Republics’ of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine.
‘Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did not change our classification of the armed conflicts in the region. Indeed, according to IHL criteria, there have been an IAC between Russia and Ukraine and two NIACs in Ukraine since 2014. What has changed, since February 2022, is the intensity of the violence and its impact on the civilian population. This means, according to our analysis, that war crimes could already have taken place before March 2022’ explains Dr Chiara Redealli.
© UNDP Ukraine/Oleksandr Ratushniak
‘Russia’s invasion of Ukraine did not change our classification of the armed conflicts in the region. Indeed, according to IHL criteria, there have been an IAC between Russia and Ukraine and two NIACs in Ukraine since 2014. What has changed, since February 2022, is the intensity of the violence and its impact on the civilian population. This means, according to our analysis, that war crimes could already have taken place before March 2022’ explains Dr Chiara Redealli.
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The six non-international armed conflicts that are taking place in the region are split evenly between Mexico and Colombia.
‘While Colombia has experienced one of the longest non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) in modern times and is still the theatre of three NIACs, Mexico is characterized by three NIACs involving gangs’ drug cartels. This is the first time we classify armed violence involving criminal organizations as NIACs and we did so given the level of organization of the cartels and intensity of violence’ says Dr Chiara Redealli.
© MSF
