RULAC: Fighting between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan Amounts to an International Armed Conflict

26 September 2022

According to our Rule of Law in Armed Conflict (RULAC) online portal, the border fighting between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan that took place in mid-September 2022 amounts to an international armed conflict (IAC).

RULAC provides detailed information about the situation – including recent developments – the classification’s rationale and applicable international law.

‘While fighting has been limited to a few isolated episodes during the past years, it has reached unprecedented levels of violence in September. These instances of the use of force amount to IACs and international humanitarian law (IHL) is therefore applicable’ explains Dr Chiara Redaelli, Research Fellow in charge of RULAC at the Geneva Academy.

The RULAC online portal provides a comprehensive classification of all situations of armed violence that amount to an armed conflict under IHL.

For each conflict, this unique online resource details the factual and methodological basis for its classification and identifies the parties and the applicable international law. The portal also includes sections on the definition and categories of armed conflict under IHL and the legal framework governing armed conflicts.

RULAC currently monitors more than 110 armed conflicts involving at least 55 states and more than 70 armed non-State actors.