How Should the Conflict in Libya Be Categorized? The UN Security
Council’s approval of the no-fly zone over Libya serves to
answer the thorniest jus ad bellum questions, but there are also
jus in bello questions that need to be answered. Most
importantly, what kind of conflict is this? Before the UN became
involved, the conflict was clearly a conflict “not of an
international character” (NIAC) between the Libyan government
and rebel forces within Libya. That conflict was governed by
common article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and Additional
Protocol II. Did the UN’s entry into the conflict change this
into an international armed conflict (IAC) subject to all of the
provisions of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I
(for ratifying nations which include Libya, France, Italy and
the UK)? The language of common article 2 of the Geneva
Conventions speaks of an armed conflict between “two or more of
the High Contracting parties”. Who is employing force in Libya,
the UN, NATO or the coalition nations indi