IHL Treaties - Additional Protocol (II) to the Geneva Conventions, 1977 - Commentary of 1987 Article | Article 1 - Material field of application | Article 1
4446 As the heading indicates, Article 1 defines the material field of application of the Protocol, i.e., it determines the circumstances in which it applies. This provision constitutes the keystone of the instrument. It is the result of a delicate compromise, the product of lengthy negotiations, and the fate of the Protocol as a whole depended on it until it was finally adopted in the plenary meetings of the Conference. (1) 4447 At first sight the article seems to be based on complicated concepts. In fact, the Protocol only applies to conflicts of a certain degree of intensity and does not have exactly the same field of application as common Article 3 , which applies in all situations of non-international armed conflict. Why there are these different steps in the applicable legal system can be more easily explained in the light of a brief historical survey. 4448 Common Article 3 does not contain a definition of armed conflict. (2) In the absence of clarity of this concept, it gave ris