When Does Occupation End?

International humanitarian law (IHL) adopts a pragmatic definition of occupation: the effective (actual) control over a territory by a foreign military force. Effective control is understood as a combination of effective military control and effective administrative control (article 42 Hague Regulations and article 6 IVGC).

To ICRC and Article 42
To ICRC and Article 6

Effective control

Military control is a factual issue. The occupying power can have effective military control even if it is not physically present in the territory itself. If the occupying power is in a position to take military control over the whole area then effective military control persists.

The ending of occupation is equally pragmatic. Occupation has ended when there is no effective military control over a territory, commonly seen when the occupying power no longer performs the functions of a government.
Read more about the responsibilities of the occupying power

Who decides when occupation ends?

The occupying power cannot unilaterally decide that occupation has ended.  

A consensus concerning the status of a territory among the High Contracting Parties to the four Geneva Conventions, may reflect the most accurate legal interpretation about the existence of effective control.

Sources of interpretations are, among others, UN Security Council resolutions, jurisprudence of international tribunals, and precedents such as World War II, Lebanon, and Iraq.

Qalandiya checkpoint, Palestinian election day, 25 January 2006.
Photo: Matilda Svensson, EAPPI