CHUKWUEMEKA ODUMEGWU OJUKWU UNIVERSITY JOURNAL OF PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LAW, COOUJPPL VOLUME 2, NO 1, 20191WARS OF NATIONAL LIBERATION IN RELATION TO LAWS OF ARMED CONFLICT

Abstract

Under  traditional  international  law,  wars  of  national  liberation  were  classified  as  civil  wars, however,  in  contemporary time,it  is  classified  as  international  armed  conflictand  as  such  the legal regimesapplicable in their regulation arethe Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol 1.  This  type  of  armed  conflict  is  one  in  which  peoples  are  fighting  against  colonial  domination and   alien   occupation   and   against   racist  regimes   in   the   exercise   of   their   right  to   self-determination.This  work  argues  that  by  virtue  of  the  Article  1(4)  of the  Protocol Additionalto the  Geneva  Conventions  of  12  August,  1945,  and  Relating  to  the  Protection  of  Victims  of International Armed Conflicts, of 8 June 1977, parties involved in armed conflict of this nature shall  be  treated  in  compliance  and  due  regard  with  the  provisions  of  IHL  regimes  of  lawsof armed conflictof international in character.