Armed Conflict • International Law
Law of Armed Conflict/IHL
1,762 Articles
Easing Restrictions on US Killings Outside War Zones Would be a Serious Mistake
President Donald Trump is poised to rescind some of the key rules crafted by the Obama administration that restrain the use of armed drones and other lethal operations outside…
How Obama’s Drones Rulebook Enabled Trump
In Trump’s New Drone Strike Policy: What’s Any Different? Why It Matters, Luke Hartig astutely flags some – but not all – of the key dangers in the Trump administration’s…
Six Reasons Why the US and Other States Should Support an Independent, International Inquiry on Yemen
This week, governments will vote at the United Nations on whether to create an international commission of inquiry on Yemen. In recent weeks, 67 international, regional, and Yemeni…
Three Half-Truths on U.S. Lethal Operations and Policy Constraints
Late last week, Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt of the New York Times reported that President Donald Trump might soon adopt a new policy on U.S. lethal operations outside hot warzones.…
Trump’s New Drone Strike Policy: What’s Any Different? Why It Matters
[Editor’s note: this article was originally published on September 21, 2017 at 9:50 PM] After months of continued tough talk and recent assurances that the United States…
Autonomous Weapon Systems and the Decision to Kill
The decision to kill other humans lies at the heart of concerns over Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS). Human judgment regarding whether lives will be taken and objects destroyed…
A Careless Attack on the UN’s Commission of Inquiry on Syria
Over on Lawfare, Lt. Col. Shane Reeves and Lt. Col. Ward Narramore have published a critique of the latest report of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the…
Libya’s Haftar and Liability of Superiors: Ordering Offenses v. Responsibility for Omissions
Further to Just Security’s coverage on Tuesday of the potential war crimes liability of U.S citizen/Libyan warlord General Khalifa Haftar, this article discusses the distinction…
Smoking Gun Videos Emerge: US Citizen, Libyan Warlord Haftar Ordering War Crimes
The International Criminal Court very recently issued an arrest warrant for a militia leader in Libya which should catch the attention of U.S. policymakers, diplomats and prosecutors…
Global Group of Civil Society Organizations Raise Concerns about U.S.-led Drone Export Initiative
On Tuesday, 19 civil society organizations from around the world issued a joint statement with their concerns about a U.S.-led initiative that seeks to set out international standards…
Senate Appropriations Bill Rejects Trump’s Efforts to Downsize State Department and USAID
Last week, the Senate Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), approved a State & Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2018.…
Legal Questions About the Airstrike Against the ISIS “Happy Journeys” Convoy
This week American-led airstrikes deterred the advance of a convoy carrying a group of ISIS fighters and civilians as it traveled from Lebanon to an ISIS safe-haven in Syria. The…