The States parties to the 1949 Geneva Conventions have entrusted the ICRC, through the
Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, "to work for the
understanding and dissemination of knowledge of international humanitarian law applicable
in armed conflicts and to prepare any development thereof"1
. It is on this basis that the ICRC
takes this opportunity to present the prevailing legal opinion on the definition of "international
armed conflict" and "non-international armed conflict" under International Humanitarian Law,
the branch of international law which governs armed conflict.