The distinction between international armed conflict and noninternational armed conflicts and their interaction from the perspective of the application of international humanitarian law gives rise to a number of difficult challenges for the international community when considering contemporary international scenarios. These challenges were at the heart of the 38^th Sanremo Round Table organized, as is the tradition, by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law and the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Round Table gathered together around 200 participants from the different regions of the world including military experts, academics and representatives of governments, international organizations, IHL practitioners and NGOs which spent two to discuss IHL related detention key issues.