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  5. The concept of armed conflict in the context of human rights protection

Almanac of law. Issue 17 (2026), pages 602–612.

DOI: 10.33663/2524-017X-2026-17-603-612

Naumenko A.V.
The concept of armed conflict in the context of human rights protection

The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the approaches to defining the concept of “armed conflict” in the scientific literature, proposed by representatives of various areas of legal science. It is found that armed conflict is a dynamic social phenomenon, the study of which requires the use of interdisciplinary approaches and the application of methodological pluralism. It is emphasized that the study of the phenomenon of armed conflict is interdisciplinary in nature, since this concept is at the intersection of legal, political, sociological and security studies. Along with doctrinal definitions of armed conflict, the provisions of international legal acts, in particular the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols, are also analyzed. Based on the synthesis of the identified features, a refined author’s definition of armed conflict is proposed in the context of the features of human rights protection under the following conditions: armed conflict is a dynamic social phenomenon, a type of social conflict, occurs with the use of weapons or with the threat of their use, with the participation of state or non-state actors, inevitably leads to human rights violations, and in this regard requires the use of both customary (typical of peacetime) and special mechanisms for the protection of human rights. The outlined approach allows for a deeper exploration of the relationship between legal categories that influence the status and guarantee of human rights in armed conflict. It is emphasized that the distinction between international and non-international armed conflict is important for the scope of states’ obligations in the field of respecting and ensuring human rights.

Keywords: armed conflict, war, international armed conflict, non-international armed conflict, human rights and freedoms, protection of human rights, international humanitarian law, ensuring human rights, mechanism for the protection of human rights, special mechanisms for the protection of human rights.

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Дата першого надходження рукопису до видання: 28.02.2026
Дата прийнятого до друку рукопису після рецензування: 09.04.2026
Дата публікації: 30.04.2026

       

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