Human Rights
Just Security’s expert authors offer in-depth analysis on critical human rights challenges, including those related to armed conflict, emerging technologies, abuses by authoritarian governments, repression of human rights advocates and independent media, human rights litigation, racial justice, gender equality, and more.
3,174 Articles
Judge (Justice?) Merrick Garland & International Law
I recently had occasion to review the international law jurisprudence of Judge Merrick Garland as part of an evaluation prepared by the American Bar Association’s Standing Committee…
Highlights From the Chilcot Report
Earlier today, the UK’s Iraq Inquiry Committee released the report of its seven year investigation into the country’s role in the Iraq War. Started in 2009 at the…
The Updated First Geneva Convention Commentary, DOD’s Law of War Manual, and a More Perfect Law of War, Part I
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Nearly synonymous with the law of war itself, the universally ratified 1949 Conventions are not merely…
The Good and Bad in the US Government’s Civilian Casualties Announcement
The US government on Friday, July 1 released long-sought information on its views as to how many people it has killed in drone and other strikes “outside areas of active hostilities,”…
Medical Complicity in CIA Torture, Then and Now
The US government released a series of documents about the CIA torture program on June 14 and 15, in response to Freedom of Information Act lawsuits by the ACLU and Vice News.…
International & US Support for Transitional Justice Initiatives
My prior post discussed new policy papers on transitional justice issued by the US State Department and US AID. These policy papers reflect the fact that the United States’…
Commanders Put on Notice
Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down its third, and in some ways most important, sentence in its short existence. The court sentenced Jean-Pierre Bemba,…
US Policy on Transitional Justice
The US State Department and the Agency for International Development recently published a series of policy papers on the US approach to transitional justice. The United States…
Donald Trump and the Ghosts of Joseph McCarthy
Following the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, presumptive Republican presidential nominee and celebrity businessman Donald Trump repeatedly implied that President…
The Law of War Manual’s Threat to the Principle of Proportionality
On Saturday, I had the honor of speaking to the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) USA General Assembly. In preparing for my talk last week, I came across a section of the US Defense…
“Effective” Policy in Syria: Ambassador Robert Ford’s View
I wrote here yesterday in response to a post by Marty Lederman and Ashley Deeks about the recent, much-publicized dissent channel cable signed by 51 US diplomats. While my discussion…
Pain Versus Gain
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…