Armed Conflict
Law of Armed Conflict/IHL
1,632 Articles
United States Report to the UN Human Rights Committee: Lex Specialis and Extraterritoriality
The United States was poised to present its views tomorrow to the Human Rights Committee, which monitors state parties’ compliance with the International Covenant on Civil…
Scientists from 37 Countries Call for Ban on Autonomous Lethal Targeting
Today, an organization of scientists released a call for a preemptive legal ban on autonomous weapons systems (AWS) – those that can select and engage targets without human intervention. …
The Al-Libi Case Is a Step Forward, Even if Not (Yet) A Paradigm Shift
Jack Goldsmith on the Lawfare blog has an interesting response to Mary DeRosa and Marty Lederman’s take on the implications of the al-Libi and Ikrima operations. I agree…
New UN Report Released; Addresses Legal Controversies in Drone Use
A new UN report on drone strikes and targeted killings by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions has been published, ahead of a UN General Assembly debate scheduled…
The Libya Raid to Capture Abu Anas al-Liby and The Persistence of Memory of Due Process
Now that Abu Anas al-Liby has been brought to the U.S. and may be appearing in court as you read this to face criminal charges, it might be tempting to say that all concerns…
Humanitarian Intervention and Global Legal Norms
Thank you to Harold Koh for spurring (here and here) a discussion about some of the most important issues of our time—on matters concerning wars of choice and building an effective…
Reviving Opinio Juris and Law of Armed Conflict Pluralism
It is by now hackneyed routine. A U.S. government attorney or legal policymaker invited to appear at a law of armed conflict (LOAC) conference prefaces her remarks with a pro forma…
Syria and the Law of Humanitarian Intervention (Part III – A Reply)
My recent two-part essay on Syria, posted on this blog, made both a policy claim and a legal claim. My policy claim was that despite undeniable political miscues, President Obama’s…
The Case of Abu Anas al-Libi: International Law Q & A
On Saturday, October 5, 2013, the US captured terrorist suspect Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai (Abu Anas al-Libi) in Tripoli, Libya, and, reportedly, is now interrogating him on a…
Maj. Kurt M. Sanger, Letter to the Editor: Response to Harold Koh’s Just Security post of Oct 2, 2013
While considering Harold Koh’s interpretation of the UN Charter and its justifications for the use of force against Syria, try standing in the shoes of foreign ministers in China…
Al-Liby: “Rendition to Justice” under Human Rights and Humanitarian Law
The U.S. government is reportedly holding Abu Anas al-Liby (Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruqai) on a Navy ship following a military-led apprehension in Tripoli on October 5. The capture…
The Interface of IHL and IHR: A Taxonomy
As the excellent Jinks/Corn/Rona series on IHL/IHR notes, there are a number of theories surrounding the interface between international humanitarian law (or the law of armed conflict)…