Armed Conflict
Law of Armed Conflict/IHL
1,634 Articles
U.S. Lethal Operations in Somalia Are On the Rise. But Are They Effective?
A deep-rooted ideology cannot be defeated with bombs dropped from the sky. What is needed is a real shift in strategy.
Uptick in U.S. Air Strikes on Buildings in Afghanistan Raises Questions
U.S. military aircraft bombed over 60 buildings in Afghanistan in October alone, reviving longstanding concerns that these kinds of strikes could risk higher numbers of civilian…
Three Takeaways from Russia’s Latest Criminal Charges Against Bill Browder
On Monday, Russian prosecutors announced new charges against U.S.-born British financier Bill Browder. For years, the Kremlin has targeted Browder using Interpol’s “red notice”…
A Long Time Coming: Understanding the Landmark Ruling from the Khmer Rouge Trials
On Friday morning in Phnom Penh, the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)—more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge Trials―delivered a…
The Pentagon Put Someone in Charge of Its Civilian Casualty Policy. Now What?
For all the time and attention that the Defense Department has rightly spent addressing civilian casualties, no single official at the Pentagon has ever been formally charged with…
“Protecting Children”: A Welcome Addition to Efforts to Redress Wartime Harms
[This essay is the second in an online mini forum that Just Security is hosting on the new book, Protecting Children in Armed Conflict. Other participants in the mini forum include…
Need for Change to Protect Children in Armed Conflict
[This essay by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Shaheed Fatima QC is the opening of an online mini forum that Just Security is hosting on their new book, Protecting Children in…
U.S. Military’s “Collective Self-Defense” of Non-State Partner Forces: What Does International Law Say?
Earlier this month, Senator Tim Kaine made public a letter he wrote to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis asking for clarification on the meaning of “collective self-defense of…
Letter to the Editor: How About Some Regulation of the Mercenary Industry?
Following Sarah Knuckey and Ryan Goodman’s post on U.S. mercenaries in Yemen, I’d like to provide a bit of international legal background to the urgent discussion of whether…
The Saudi Playbook: Self-Investigations of Civilian Deaths in Yemen and Khashoggi
We’ve been here before. Saudi Arabia has a sordid track record of announcing formal mechanisms to look into deaths of civilians at the hands of its own officers which have then…
U.S. Libel Case Over Russian Poisoning Takes Aim at Kremlin Propaganda
A lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleges defamation by two Kremlin-controlled television stations widely available in the United States concerning the infamous poisoning…
Justice Dept Must Open Criminal Investigation Into Potential War Crimes by U.S. Mercenaries in Yemen
the Justice Dept has clear authority to investigate a band of American mercenaries for alleged killings carried out in Yemen, acts which may amount to murder or war crimes.