Abstract
At a time when the world is gripped by local and full-scale military conflicts, the question of who can be held accountable for war crimes remains relevant. War has no excuses, because without exception it is associated with cruelty and violence. However, even in conditions of military conflicts, the warring parties are obliged to comply with international regulations in order to avoid unjustified casualties and destruction. International humanitarian law clearly separates the two polar parties involved in hostilities - combatants and civilians. Such a separation is necessary in order to understand who a direct participant is and who needs protection in armed conflicts. In this regard, the article pays great attention to the study of documents establishing the status of direct participants in armed conflicts and civilians. For a comprehensive study of the identified issues, the Geneva Conventions adopted in 1949 and the Additional Protocols thereto of 1977 were analyzed. Special attention is paid to Additional Protocol I, which develops the main provisions of the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts. In these documents, the rights of combatants and civilians were regulated by international law, as well as the status of medical personnel and representatives of the clergy in conditions of military confrontations is separately regulated. In the presented work, international and non-international armed conflicts were also studied.