International Law
Just Security offers expert analysis of international law and its role in addressing global challenges. Our coverage includes litigation in international and regional tribunals, the process of international law-making, analysis of compliance and accountability for international law violations–including international criminal justice, and challenges to the international legal order.
3,511 Articles
Asserting Their Jewish Identity: My Mother’s Testimony in the First Nazi War Crimes Trial, 75 Years Ago
A prosecutor in the Belsen Trial initially obscured the specific identity of the victims. That would change dramatically by the end.
What a Few Cakes Say About the US Drone Program
Fondant creations on cakes - yes cakes - provide a rare window into a largely closed culture of national security policymaking. Their creation in 2013, publication, and re-emergence…
How to Answer Iraq’s Failure to Put a Stop to Torture
Parliament should ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. Short of that, Prime Minister al-Kadhimi can take action.
Breaking: Colonel Montano, Extradited from the United States, Found Guilty of the Jesuits Massacre by Spanish Court
UPDATE: The judgment is available here (in Spanish). A Spanish court has convicted Colonel Inocente Orlando Montano for his role in the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, their…
Toward a New Approach to National and Human Security: Uphold the Prohibition on Torture
A full reckoning for state-sanctioned American torture remains unfinished. The Obama administration took important steps towards fulfilling US obligations but fell short of what…
Toward a New Approach to National and Human Security: End Unlawful, Secret, and Unaccountable Use of Lethal Force
A core component of post-9/11 counterterrorism policy has been the use of secretive and unaccountable killings of terrorism suspects. The killings must stop. Here's how the president…
Toward a New Approach to National and Human Security: Close Guantanamo and End Indefinite Detention
Closing Guantanamo responsibly is not an intractable problem, the checkered history of prior efforts notwithstanding. It can be done, and in relatively short order, if decision-making…
Toward a New Approach to National and Human Security: Introduction
One year from today marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11. A president addressing the nation on such a solemn occasion should be able to tell the American people not only that there…
The Disturbing Links in Trump’s Transactional Foreign Policy: A New Post-Mortem on Guatemala’s Impunity Commission
It’s a riveting — if demoralizing — quid pro quo story, and proof positive of the way corruption begets corruption and autocrats find solace in each other.
Part 2 – Tanker, Jailer, Soldier, Sailor: Functional Immunity and the Enrica Lexie Award
At the heart of the Enrica Lexie dispute-- a clash between an Italian tanker and an Indian fishing boat-- lies a question of jurisdictional immunity: was India barred from exercising…
The D.C. Circuit, Conspiracy, and the Guantanamo Military Commissions: Third Time’s the Charm?
Eleven years since Congress authorized the third generation of post-9/11 Guantanamo military commissions, the substantive law governing them remains in doubt. The case of Bahlul…
A Test for the US Posture on the Int’l Criminal Court: “Safe Harbor” Licenses?
A US willingness to consider mitigation will signal the true intent of sanctions against the ICC prosecutor and a division director.