Press Release: Judgment in Case C-285/12. Diakité v Commissaire général aux réfugiés et aux apatrides

In EU law, the interpretation to be given to the concept of ‘internal armed conflict’ must be independent of the definition used in international humanitarian law.

An internal armed conflict must be found to exist where a State’s armed forces confront one or more armed groups or where two or more armed groups confront each other, regardless of the intensity of the confrontations, the level of organisation of the armed forces involved or the duration of the conflict.