The institution of recognition and legal personality of national liberation movements during armed conflict

• Published in: Науковий вісник Ужгородського національного університету. Серія Право Vol. 4; no. 89; pp. 155 - 160
• Main Author: Kolotukha, I. O.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 12.08.2025
• ISSN: 2307-3322; 2664-6153
• DOI: 10.24144/2307-3322.2025.89.4.23

The task that the author sets before himself is the study of the international legal status and the main features that allow the resistance movement to be considered a subject of international humanitarian law (IHL), and its participants, respectively, combatants, and vice versa, in which cases are members of an armed formation, which is waging an armed struggle against the government forces, cannot be considered a national liberation movement and will essentially be a terrorist organization or gang formation, or will be considered part of the armed (enemy) forces of the aggressor state, which essentially exercises full and effective control over such armed groups, trying pass them off as a national liberation movement. It is indicated that the analysis of modern international relations shows that humanity has not yet managed to get rid of wars and other armed conflicts, which are mostly armed conflicts of a non-international nature. This is evidenced by the events in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Afghanistan, Iraq, Liberia, and the Caucasus, and since 2014, Ukraine has not been an exception, the international armed conflict on whose territory has grown from February 24, 2022 into a full-scale war waged by the Russian Federation on the scale of which Europe has not knew since the Second World War. It is noted that modern international relations are characterized by a change in the nature of the conflict, the emergence of a number of new categories and situations, an increase in the number of victims among the civilian population, and an increasing internationalization of armed conflicts of a non-international nature. In this regard, the issue of the legal personality of the national liberation movement is extremely relevant, especially in the context of the ongoing full-scale war waged by Russia against Ukraine. The article highlights the provisions and by which author the assessment was made regarding the prerequisites for determining the legal assessment, the qualification of the necessary amount of legal personality of the national liberation movement, because the prerequisite for the correct qualification is a deep study and understanding by the person who applies the norms of law, the principles of international humanitarian law, international policy of the state, international judicial and investigative practice; correct clarification and interpretation of the content of the international agreement, determination of the limits of the selected norm in time, space and by the number of persons, as well as establishing all its features; collection and analysis of evidence in the case, full and comprehensive establishment of the actual signs of an armed conflict, with a justified combination of the signs of an armed conflict, established by international law, with the signs of a committed act. An important place in the work is covered by the issue of theoretical analysis of recognition in international law as a separate institution and legal phenomenon.