military occupation
Enable an AI agent to recognise a possible military occupation, assess territorial control and civilian conditions, and identify actions requiring legal review, protection measures or accountability.
Research draft, second pass
A second pass drafted this model: the structure a model of this thing needs, and what is known about it in the world. The line under this one says how the second half was obtained - researched against sources, or recalled without web access, in which case nothing here was read anywhere and every claim is a lead to verify. Unreviewed either way.
Researched by: Codex + Grok
Purpose and description
Enable an AI agent to recognise a possible military occupation, assess territorial control and civilian conditions, and identify actions requiring legal review, protection measures or accountability.
Military occupation is the effective control of foreign territory by a hostile armed force without transfer of sovereignty, a status of fact under international humanitarian law that continues while that control is maintained and the occupying power is bound by occupation law toward the territory and its inhabitants.
It can be Compare evidence against an explicit occupation test and produce a dated assessment with unresolved issues.; Map territorial authority by place, function, actor and period.; Flag civilian-protection concerns and connect them to the authority capable of addressing them.; Assess a proposed administrative measure against verified applicable rules and route unresolved issues for legal review.; Track challenges, remedies and implementation of corrective measures.; Reassess the situation after withdrawal, transfer of authority or other material changes in control..
Distinguishing features
Test evidence of exercised or exercisable territorial authority against evidence of troop presence, raids or battlefield movement alone.
Examine the source, scope, validity and continuation of consent when distinguishing occupation from an invited deployment.
Distinguish authority over territory from the capacity to attack it, blockade it or control a particular route.
Assess occupation separately from annexation declarations, sovereignty claims and the names used by participating authorities.
Trace whose authority local administrators implement when distinguishing independent local government from administration attributable to an external power.
Scope
+ Evidence of foreign military authority over a defined territory during a defined period
+ Consent, contested authority and the basis for classifying the situation
+ Allocation of authority among military forces, civilian administrators and local institutions
+ Civilian protection, essential services and occupation-related restrictions
+ Administration of public institutions, property and resources
+ Changes in control, termination claims and continuing responsibilities
- The armed conflict as a whole, including campaign design and combat operations
- Sovereignty and territorial-title disputes considered independently of occupation
- Individual detention cases and individual criminal proceedings
- Displacement journeys and humanitarian programmes beyond their relationship to the occupation
- Military bases, peacekeeping missions and consensual deployments considered independently of a possible occupation
- The internal organisation of participating armed forces
Characteristics
- Assessment footprint
- Territory or subareas linked to assessment intervals and boundary evidence Control and classification may differ between locations and change over time.
- Occupation assessment
- Supported; not supported; contested; insufficient evidence, each attributed to an assessor, date and stated test Separates an evidence-based assessment from a party's declaration.
- Authority exercised
- Documented functions such as policing, appointments, movement control, adjudication and revenue collection Shows what territorial authority consists of in practice.
- Consent position
- Asserted; evidenced within a stated scope; disputed; withdrawn; absent; unknown Supports examination of whether a foreign presence and its activities remain consensual.
- Authority attribution
- Actor-to-function relationships with evidence of direction, delegation and independent discretion Identifies who makes decisions and who can implement remedies.
- Essential-service interruption
- Hours or days interrupted, by service, locality and observation period Makes deterioration in civilian living conditions visible without treating it as proof of legal responsibility.
- Civilian restriction profile
- Measures linked to affected groups, geographic reach, duration, issuing authority and review mechanism Supports scrutiny of the effects and justification of occupation-related restrictions.
- Control transition
- Establishing; continuing; expanding; contracting; transferring; claimed ended; unclear Triggers reassessment of boundaries, authority and continuing responsibilities.
Also called
Where this came from
wikidata · CC0 1.0
Drafted structure
Bundle to layer to finding to question, as the second pass will find it: 6 bundles · 11 layers · 18 findings · 37 questions.
Occupation determination Establish whether, where and when the situation warrants classification as military occupation.
The model must support recognition without substituting political labels or military presence for an evidenced assessment.
Territorial authority
Examine practical authority within a bounded area and period.
Authority threshold
Record the test being applied and evidence supporting or challenging its satisfaction.
- What verified test distinguishes occupation from temporary military presence in this assessment? definition
- What dated observations show which authority can issue and enforce decisions in each assessed locality? provenance
- Which contested or intermittently controlled areas require separate assessments? boundary
Consent and classification
Separate the deployment's asserted basis from the assessment of territorial authority.
Consent and competing positions
Record consent evidence and attributed classifications without treating either as self-validating.
- Who purported to consent to the foreign presence, with what authority, territorial scope, conditions and duration? provenance
- What evidence concerns the validity, withdrawal or exceedance of that consent? boundary
- Which institutions or parties classify the situation differently, and what evidence and legal reasoning do they provide? provenance
Exercise of occupying authority Describe how military and administrative power operates across the territory.
An occupation assessment must identify practical decision-makers and distinguish direct rule from authority exercised through intermediaries.
Command and administration
Trace the allocation and exercise of governing functions.
Functional authority map
Associate governing functions with actors and evidence of their actual decision-making power.
- Who appoints officials, directs police, operates courts and issues binding administrative orders? provenance
- Which local bodies retain independent discretion, and which act under external direction or approval? boundary
Reach and enforcement
Assess the practical reach of authority beyond formal organisational arrangements.
Practical control pattern
Record where authority is implemented, resisted, shared or absent.
- Where and during which periods are orders implemented, blocked or displaced by another authority? measurement
- How do control of crossings, access routes and essential infrastructure affect the exercise of territorial authority? boundary
- Which changes in enforcement capacity should trigger reassessment of the occupation footprint? action
Civilian protection and living conditions Track occupation-related effects on civilian security, movement and access to necessities.
Assessing the state of an occupation requires visibility into civilian conditions and the measures producing or remedying harm.
Coercive measures
Examine restrictions and enforcement measures affecting the population.
Restrictions and safeguards
Record movement restrictions, detention practices and displacement measures together with their asserted basis and safeguards.
- Which groups are affected by curfews, checkpoints, detention, evacuation or relocation measures, and for how long? measurement
- What orders, stated reasons and review procedures govern each measure? provenance
- Which reported effects require urgent protection action or specialised legal assessment? action
Necessities and humanitarian access
Assess access to essential services and assistance under the prevailing authority arrangements.
Civilian needs and response
Connect documented shortages and access barriers to response capacity and decisions.
- What shortages or interruptions affect food, water, shelter, sanitation and medical care, by locality and population group? measurement
- Which authorities control relief entry, distribution and repair access, and what evidence explains delays or denials? provenance
- What corrective actions are available, who can carry them out, and how will their effects be verified? action
Administration and legal constraints Assess governing measures affecting institutions, property and resources against verified applicable rules.
The model must distinguish practical power to impose a measure from an established legal basis for doing so.
Institutions and public rules
Examine changes to local law and governing institutions.
Administrative change review
Record proposed or implemented legal and institutional changes and the basis for assessing them.
- Which existing laws, courts or public institutions have been suspended, replaced or modified, and by which instrument? provenance
- Which verified rules govern each change, and what facts are needed to assess its justification and limits? boundary
- Should the proposed measure proceed, be modified or be referred for legal review on the available evidence? action
Property, resources and territorial change
Examine occupation-related control and alteration of land, assets and resources.
Asset and land measures
Track requisition, seizure, destruction, resource use and changes affecting landholding or settlement.
- What property or resources are affected, who holds relevant rights, and which authority ordered the measure? provenance
- What scale, duration and reversibility do the measures have, including effects on residents' access to land and homes? measurement
- Which measures require review for restitution, compensation, cessation or other remedies under verified applicable rules? action
Transition and accountability Track changes in occupation status and the resolution of occupation-related decisions and harms.
A withdrawal or transfer claim requires factual reassessment, while unresolved records, claims and remedies need continuity.
Control transition and termination
Assess whether changes in military presence or administration alter the occupation relationship.
Termination assessment
Compare claimed termination with evidence of changed authority and retained functions.
- What dated evidence supports the claimed end or territorial contraction of occupation? provenance
- Which powers remain with the former occupying authority, and how do they affect the applicable termination test? boundary
- What reassessment and handover steps are needed for services, records and people held in custody? action
Review and remedies
Connect occupation-related concerns with competent review bodies and verifiable outcomes.
Accountability follow-through
Preserve the distinction between allegations, established findings, ordered remedies and completed implementation.
- Which concerns remain allegations, which have been examined, and which have findings from an identified competent body? provenance
- What complaint or review mechanisms are accessible to affected people, and what barriers limit their use? boundary
- What evidence would demonstrate that an ordered remedy or corrective measure has been implemented? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
A model that cannot be lined up against existing standards, identifiers and practice cannot be adopted by anyone who already uses them.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Kinds and varieties
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- belligerent occupation of enemy territory during or after international armed conflict
- pacific occupation by consent or armistice without a state of war
- post-surrender occupation after the enemy's complete defeat
- transformative or prolonged occupation that restructures local institutions over years
- co-occupation or multinational occupation under a coalition or UN mandate
- partial occupation of only part of a state's territory
- occupation of a disputed or non-self-governing territory
- occupation by proxy through a force that is under the overall control of another state
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Identifiers and schemes
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Wikidata - Q214600 - item 'military occupation' (military occupation of a territory)
- IHL treaty article - Hague Regulations (1907) Art. 42; Geneva Convention IV (1949) Arts. 2, 47-78; Additional Protocol I (1977) Art. 1(3), 4 - primary treaty loci, not a taxonomic code
- Which of these identifiers and schemes hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Standards and regulation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Hague Convention IV (1907) and annexed Regulations, Arts. 42-56 - issued by the 1907 Hague Peace Conference; customary IHL
- Geneva Convention IV (1949), Arts. 47-78 and Common Article 2 - issued by the Diplomatic Conference of Geneva; ICRC depositary practice
- Additional Protocol I (1977) to the Geneva Conventions - Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law
- Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Art. 8(2)(a)-(b) war crimes in international armed conflict including occupation-related offences - Assembly of States Parties / ICC
- UN Security Council resolutions addressing particular occupations (e.g. res. 1483 (2003) on Iraq) - United Nations Security Council
- Customary IHL (ICRC Customary IHL Study, rules on occupation, public order, property, and protected persons) - ICRC restatement of custom
- Which of these standards and regulation hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Legal characterisation of a foreign military presence so that Hague/Geneva occupation duties (public order, humanitarian protection, limits on annexation and pillage) attach without waiting for a proclamation
- Used by courts, occupying commands, ICRC, and UN organs to decide who must administer civilian life, protect property, and refrain from transferring sovereignty
- Encountered in post-conflict administrations (e.g. Iraq 2003-2004 Coalition Provisional Authority), prolonged territorial control (e.g. Occupied Palestinian Territory), and historical cases (Allied occupation of Germany and Japan)
- Triggers occupation-related war-crime jurisdiction and informs sanctions, status-of-forces, and reconstruction mandates
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Typical measurements
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- duration of occupation - days to decades; many modern cases last years to 50+ - years
- territorial extent under effective control - a locality, a strip, or an entire state - km² of occupied territory
- occupying-force strength relative to population - highly variable; often cited planning figures around 5-20 troops per 1,000 inhabitants in stability operations, not a legal threshold - troops per 1,000 inhabitants
- Which of these typical measurements hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- Failure to establish or maintain effective control while claiming occupation, or conversely denying occupation while exercising it, leaving a protection gap for civilians
- Unlawful annexation, transfer of civilians of the occupying power into occupied territory, or forced transfer of protected persons (GC IV Art. 49)
- Pillage, destruction of property not justified by military necessity, and exploitation of natural resources beyond usufruct (Hague Arts. 46-56)
- Collective penalties, hostage-taking, and failure to maintain public order and civil life (Hague Art. 43)
- Prolonged occupation that hollows out local self-government and creates facts on the ground that prejudice a political settlement
- Accountability vacuum when occupying authority is multinational or exercised by proxy
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- States and scholars disagree whether Gaza after 2005 disengagement remained 'occupied' despite no standing troops - effective-control vs. boots-on-the-ground tests
- Some states treat 'pacific occupation' or consensual stationing as outside belligerent occupation; others apply GC IV whenever territory of a High Contracting Party is occupied
- Post-1945 Allied occupations of Germany and Japan are often analysed as occupations of defeat/transformative occupations rather than classic Hague belligerent occupation
- UN-authorised administrations (Kosovo, East Timor) are frequently distinguished from occupation even when they involve foreign military control
- Russian, Israeli, and Western legal positions diverge sharply on Crimea, Donbas, Western Sahara, Northern Cyprus, and the Occupied Palestinian Territory
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Reported by the breadth pass; each item needs checking against its source before it becomes normative.
- annexation / acquisition of sovereignty - Occupation does not transfer title; annexation claims to. Test: does the foreign power purport to make the territory its own, or does it administer it as occupied foreign land?
- military occupation of a point (tactical seizure) vs. occupation as a legal regime - Mere presence or a raid is not occupation. Test: Hague Art. 42 - is the territory actually placed under the hostile army's authority, established and exercisable?
- peacekeeping / UN territorial administration - Peacekeepers typically operate with host or UN mandate and not as a 'hostile army'. Test: is the force a party to an international armed conflict exercising hostile effective control, or a UN/consensual administration?
- belligerent occupation vs. invasion in progress - Invasion precedes occupation. Test: has the invader substituted its authority for the displaced sovereign's in the area, not merely fought through it?
- occupation vs. blockade or siege - A blockade controls access by sea or air without necessarily substituting land authority. Test: land effective control and substitution of authority, not only isolation.
- occupation vs. colonialism / non-self-governing territory - Colonial title and occupation law are distinct historical and legal regimes. Test: is the relationship framed as hostile effective control of another state's (or a people's) territory under IHL, or as a claim of metropolitan sovereignty?
- occupation vs. status-of-forces / basing by consent - SOFA presence is by agreement of the territorial sovereign. Test: has the territorial state freely consented, and can it withdraw consent, or has hostile control replaced its authority?
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of military occupation this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Sources
- Convention (IV) respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and its annex: Regulations concerning the Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague Regulations), Article 42 - Canonical definition: a territory is occupied when actually placed under the authority of the hostile army; occupation extends only to territory where that authority is established and can be exercised.
- Geneva Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, 12 August 1949, Common Article 2 and Articles 47-78 - Applies occupation law in international armed conflict, including partial occupation and occupation of a High Contracting Party's territory, and sets the occupying power's duties toward protected persons.
- Occupation and international humanitarian law: questions and answers - ICRC restatement of the effective-control test, that occupation is a question of fact not declaration, and the occupant's limited authority and duties.
- Security Council resolution 1483 (2003) on the situation between Iraq and Kuwait - UN recognition of occupying powers (the Authority) and the overlay of Security Council measures on Hague/Geneva occupation law in a contemporary occupation.
What the second pass must settle
- Which authoritative sources and interpretive positions should ground the recognition and termination tests, particularly for intermittent control or authority exercised without a continuous troop presence?
- How should the model assess contested invitations, withdrawn consent and competing claims to represent the territorial state?
- What evidence is sufficient to attribute authority exercised through local administrations, non-state intermediaries or multinational arrangements?
- Which occupation-related obligations and additional legal regimes apply in a particular case, and how should disputed applicability be represented?
- What minimum spatial, temporal and evidentiary resolution supports a defensible assessment when access is restricted and reports conflict?