WITNESSES TO WAR, Think for a moment of the men, women, and children who live in the world’s armed conflict zones. At the time of this writing, these people would include those living in parts of Afghanistan, Darfur, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Gaza, Iraq, southern Somalia, central Sudan, and the towns of Libya, Syria, and northern Mexico (now engulfed in a drug war) – to name just a few. Unlike those fortunate enough to live in areas not experiencing armed conflict, people in conflict zones must confront daily life in a highly compromised and challenging environment. In addition, they have to share their domestic setting with three groups that usually do not have a salient presence in more peaceful regions – armed forces and groups, the humanitarian aid industry, and so-called observers or witnesses of the conflict. A conflict zone is one in which armed forces and/or groups are present and are actively engaged in acts of violence and warfare. Armed forces refer to state forces, including state-backed militias, as well as state forces operating as part of NATO, African Union, or United Nations or other multilateral military missions. Belligerent forces are those that the state or a body of authority (such as the United Nations) has recognized as belligerents to a war; usually this designation is given to sovereign states. Nonstate armed groups can also be considered belligerents, but only if they are recognized as such by the state or a body of authority. However, such state-generated recognition is rare as it triggers certain rights for the belligerent forces under the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. Nonstate armed groups also include insurgents, a term designating a group that has taken up arms against a recognized, constituted authority (usually a sovereign state) and that is not recognized as a belligerent to the conflict. For example, in both Afghanistan and Iraq multiple insurgent groups are engaged in armed conflict against state forces, multilateral forces, and, in some cases, each other. Insurgencies also arise where there is a complete breakdown of the state and different factions vie for control, as in Somalia in 1998–2006 (Bruton 2010).