Armed Conflict • International Law
Law of Armed Conflict/IHL
1,649 Articles
A Right to Fight?
Do the laws of war give soldiers a right to fight, irrespective of their cause and free from other constraints? Or are the laws of war merely one set of constraints among others?…
New Symposium Scholarship on Human Shields
We have covered on these pages the legal and moral issues surrounding the use of human shields in contemporary armed conflict situations. The American Society of International…
Top 10 Gender and Security Developments of 2016
These developments and issues are not in any hierarchical order. They represent a broad swath of gender-related practices, actions, opportunities and setbacks that emerged in 2016.…
Can Trump Unravel Obama’s Rules of War?
For eight years, the Obama administration has pursued a tough-minded war against al Qaeda and affiliated terrorist groups that has eliminated their leaders from Somalia to Afghanistan…
Letter to the Editor: Response to The Laws of War: Their Nature and Moral Function
Earlier this month, I entered the fray in a stimulating debate over Prof. Adil Haque’s innovative proposal to lower the threshold for defining non-international armed conflict…
The ICRC Survey and Torture: A Glass Two-Thirds Full?
As indicated by Ryan Goodman in a recent Just Security post, the report, “People on War: Perspectives from 16 Countries,” by the International Committee of the Red Cross, provides…
The UN General Assembly’s Historic Resolution on Accountability for Syria: What It Means and What Are Its Limits
The United Nations General Assembly voted yesterday to establish “the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism to Assist in the Investigation and Prosecution of Those…
State Responsibility for Assisting Armed Groups: A Legal Risk Analysis
Last month, the US State Department’s Legal Adviser Brian Egan highlighted one of the most significant legal issues on the horizon: US and coalition forces’ handling of large…
How to Read the Department of Defense’s Revised Law of War Manual
Last week, the Department of Defense released a revised version of its Law of War Manual, making significant changes to one section: “Proportionality in Conducting Attacks.”…
The Defense Dept’s Law of War Manual: “Exempt” Military Objects and Investigations’ Positive Feedback Loop
Several revisions in the amended U.S. Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual address what military objects might be excluded from a strike list, and what investigations should…
CCW Review Conference: Autonomous Weapons Discussion to Continue But Regulation Remains Unlikely
The most significant outcome from last week’s CCW Review Conference was the decision to create a UN Group of Governmental Experts (GGE), which will meet for 10 days in 2017 to…
Israel’s Settlement Regulation Bill Violates International Law
The proposed (and euphemistically titled) “Regulation Bill” is a bill pending before the Israeli Knesset which seeks to authorize the expropriation of private Palestinian property…