THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ETHNIC GROUPS INVOLVED IN ARMED CONFLICTS

Most of the armed conflicts after the Second World War have had an ethnic conflict character. They are, generally, non-international conflicts, the norms of the international humanitarian law being only marginally applicable to them. Therefore, the intervention of international forces - of a humanitarian nature - to restore peace and protect non-combatants are often controversial and without a firm legal basis. Another problem is the differentiation that occurs in international regulations on ethnic groups - autochthonous and foreign - differentiation which greatly influences the rights recognized to them.