Common Article 2

Common Article 2 is the identically worded second article appearing in all four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. It sets the threshold for the conventions' full application by specifying that they govern "all cases of declared war or of any other armed conflict which may arise between two or more of the High Contracting Parties, even if the state of war is not recognized by one of them." It also extends the conventions to "all cases of partial or total occupation" of a party's territory, even if that occupation meets with no armed resistance.

The article is the gateway provision for the law of international armed conflict (IAC). Once its threshold is crossed, the full body of the four conventions applies: protection of the wounded and sick on land (GC I), at sea (GC II), prisoners of war (GC III), and civilians, including occupied populations (GC IV). It is paired with Common Article 3, which sets a minimum humanitarian floor for non-international armed conflicts.

Three practical features matter for delegates and researchers:

• Objective trigger. Application does not depend on a formal declaration of war or on either party calling the situation a "war." The ICRC and the ICTY (notably in Tadić, 1995) have read the threshold as factual: any resort to armed force between states suffices.
• Occupation clause. Paragraph 2 means GC IV applies in occupied territory regardless of whether fighting occurred — relevant, for example, to debates over the West Bank and Gaza since 1967.
• Relations with non-parties. Paragraph 3 provides that parties remain bound between themselves and may apply the conventions vis-à-vis a non-party that "accepts and applies" their provisions. Universal ratification (196 states parties) has made this clause largely historical.

Common Article 2 does not itself create individual criminal liability, but it defines the contextual element ("international armed conflict") required for grave breaches under each convention and for many war crimes prosecuted under the ICC Statute Article 8(2)(a).