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Towards A Test Of The International Character Of An Armed Conflict: Nicaragua And Tadic, Leo Van Den Hole

Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce

Two international Tribunals recently examined what level of direction and control has to be wielded by a State over military or paramilitary groups to make a non-international conflict an international one. The general view perceives the holdings of both tribunals to be in conflict, this article maintains that they are not. It argues that both tribunals were weighing factors, and that every court of first instance always has to weigh these factors to decide whether acts of armed groups can be attributed to a State.