Armed Conflict • International Law
Law of Armed Conflict/IHL
1,649 Articles
No War Crime? No War Crimes Trial!
Editor’s Note: This is the most recent post in a mini-symposium leading up to next week’s en banc oral argument in the DC Circuit in Al Bahlul v. United States. You can check…
Still Secret: Second Circuit Keeps More Drone Memos From the Public
Secret law has been anathema to our democracy since its Founding, but a federal appeals court just gave us more of it. Almost two centuries ago, James Madison wrote that “[a]…
Challenges New Weapons and Humanitarian Assistance Present for International Law
Editor’s Note: This is the fourth post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the…
Foreign Fighters, Mercenaries, and Private Military Companies Under International Law
Editor’s Note: This is the third post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges…
International Law, Targeting, and Detention in the Age of International Terrorism
Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the…
The UN’s New “Code of Conduct” for Acting in the Face of Mass Atrocities
On October 23, the UN celebrated its 70th anniversary by launching an important new initiative that will support timely and decisive action by the UN Security Council to respond…
The Start, End, and Territorial Scope of Armed Conflict
Editor’s Note: This is the first post in a miniseries about the International Committee of the Red Cross’s newly released Report on International Humanitarian Law and the Challenges…
The Assassination Ban and Targeted Killings
In public speeches, administration officials have criticized the use of the word “assassination” to characterize targeted killings carried out by the United States. The administration’s…
The International Criminal Court, the Islamic State, and Chemical Weapons
Ralf Trapp recently wrote here about an investigation by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into the alleged use of chemical weapons in Northern Iraq…
Human Shields in the DOD Manual: A New Mistake or an Old One?
Since the Defense Department published its new Law of War Manual, major media outlets have scrutinized its treatment of journalists while ignoring its treatment of ordinary civilians.…
The Imperative of a “Drone Court”
With the recent release of The Intercept’s Drone Papers, it is an apt time to revisit the imperative of creating a check on an executive branch exercising lethal force without…
The Investigation Into the Islamic State and Chemical Weapons
Reports of the presumed use of chemical weapons — chlorine and more recently mustard gas — by Daesh (also know as the Islamic State) in Northern Iraq and Syria have appeared…