This includes traditional battlefield fighting, guerrilla activities (e.g. Typically, battle-related deaths occur in what can be described as 'normal' warfare involving the armed forces of the warring parties. Battle-related deathsĬounted as battle-related deaths is the use of armed force between warring parties in a conflict dyad, be it state-based or non-state, resulting in deaths. The use of airplanes on 11 September also qualifies as use of armed force. Nuclear weapons, biological weapons as well as chemical weapons are included as bombs or other explosives regardless of how they have been constructed. other than corporal strength and/or psychological power. manufactured weapons but also sticks, stones, fire, water, etc. With the first use of armed force the parties to a conflict can be either killed or wounded or symbolically targeted. From a government perspective, the use of armed force can be the initiation of a campaign to wipe out rebels. For instance an attack can be launched against a government target such a military compound or a police station. The attack can be symbolic and does not have to result in deaths.

The first use of armed force is considered to occur when a party to a conflict actively uses arms against the other. This definition is, among other things, used to classify a rebel group’s or a government’s first use of armed force in a state-based conflict. (relates to state-based, non-state, one-sided) “Armed conflict” is also referred to as “ state-based conflict”, as opposed to “ non-state conflict”, in which none of the warring parties is a government. Armed conflictĪ state-based armed conflict is a contested incompatibility that concerns government and/or territory where the use of armed force between two parties, of which at least one is the government of a state, results in at least 25 battle-related deaths in one calendar year. ActorĪ state or a non-state formally organised or informally organised group.

A one-sided actor is deemed to be active if an organised group incurs at least 25 deliberate killings of civilians in a year.

In other words, a secondary warring party does not have to, on its own, incur or suffer 25 battle-related deaths to be classified as active.Ī variant of this coding rule is applied in regards to one-sided violence. A secondary warring party is however considered to be active if it actively supports one of the primary parties with regular troops within the stated incompatibility. This rule also applies to settle dyad activity and the activity of the primary warring parties. (relates to state-based, non-state, one-sided, actors, dyads)Ī conflict, both state-based and non-state, is deemed to be active if there are at least 25 battle-related deaths per calendar year in one of the conflict’s dyads.

Insurgency definition