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.

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Security Council members hold a videoconference in connection with Maintenance of international peace and security.

National Security Last Week at the United Nations (April 2-9)

United States Lifts Sanctions Against ICC Officials On April 2, President Joe Biden reversed one of former President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which imposed sanctions…
Beji Caid Essebsi Tunisian President; Alpha Conde President of the Republic of Guinea, Faure Gnassingbe President of the Republic of Togo; Paul Kagame President of the Republic of Rwanda; German Chancellor Angela Merkel; German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz; Abdelfattah al-Sisi Egyptian President; Alassane Ouattara Ivory Coast president; Macky Sall President of the Republic of Senegal; Patrice Talon President of the Republic of Benin and President of the African Development Bank Akinwumi Adesina; Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz; Abiy Ahmed Ali Ethiopian Prime Minister; International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde; Nana Akufo-Addo President of the Republic of Ghana; Cyril Ramaphosa South African President; World Bank President Jim Yong Kim; African Union (AU) Commission representative Moussa Faki Mahamat and Morocco's Finance Minister Mohamed Benchaaboun pose for a picture during the "Compact with Africa" conference on trade, aid and diplomacy on October 30, 2018 at the Chancellery in Berlin.

What Are the Stakes of the Upcoming Elections in Benin?

Since becoming the first country in Africa to overthrow a military dictator by democratic means, the Republic of Benin has been a highly stable and robust democracy, widely renowned…
Secretary of State Blinken stands a podium in front of American flags.

Full Burial Now Needed for Executive Order Against International Criminal Court

"Executive Order 13928 requires a burial so deep, so final, that never again will the United States, nor any other country, deem it a permissible policy option."
Exterior View of the new International Criminal Court building in The Hague on July 30, 2016 in The Hague The Netherlands.

BREAKING: Biden Revokes Executive Order Sanctioning Int’l Criminal Court Principals

Beth Van Schaack lauds the development and puts it in context of other human rights developments.
A displaced Syrian girl looks around at the camp created by Turkey's Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH) in Kafr Lusin village on the border with Turkey in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib on March 10, 2020. Tents and laundry hang behind her.

Renouncing Reprisals: An Opportunity for the Biden Administration

The United States claims the legal right to attack civilians and objects indispensable to their survival in certain situations. Biden can reverse that, and an opportunity to do…
NZDF troops remove the New Zealand flag from a base in Afghanistan.

Opportunity Missed: New Zealand Defense Force’s Order on Civilian Harm in Wartime

On Feb. 11, 2021, the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) announced new rules on responding to civilian harm. Defence Force Order 35 (DFO 35) introduces NZDF-wide procedures for responding…
U.S. President Joe Biden, without a face mask, and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, with a face mask, participate in a virtual meeting with leaders of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue countries March 12, 2021 at the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, DC.

Why Biden Needs to Rescind Trump’s ICC Sanctions Now

A deadline looms in the case challenging executive order 13928, which imposed sanctions against the ICC. Will the Biden administration defend the former administration’s reckless…
The building and grounds of Germany’s Federal Court of Justice. There is a grassy lawn with a fountain, trees lining the sides, and the building itself is centered.

On Functional Immunity of Foreign Officials and Crimes under International Law

Landmark judgment by Germany’s top criminal court on foreign officials' lack of immunity in war crimes trials. Analysis by renowned scholar, Professor Claus Kress.
Trump gestures in front of a line of American flags at the "Stop The Steal" Rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC.

An Alternative to Impeachment: New Bill Helps Enforce Accountability for Capitol Riots

Experts explain how a new bill in Congress helps enforce accountability for federal officials who enabled the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A medical doctor wearing a mask representing Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez takes part in a protest in Tegucigalpa on September 11, 2020, amid the new coronavirus pandemic. The doctor carries a 3-D coronavirus model in one hand and a sign in another hand.

To Combat Central America’s Bad Governance, Biden Can’t Just Throw Money at the Problem

The $4 billion in US aid will have to be carefully managed, and could be leveraged to combat the corruption and impunity that drives so many to migrate.
Relatives and friends hold photos of their missing loved ones at Galle Face promenade in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on August 28, 2018.

Spotlight on Sri Lanka as UN Human Rights Council Prepares Next Session

Concerns over impunity and a troubling decline in human rights will be prominent, with a long-awaited report by the UN high commissioner for human rights.
A war memorial at Jaffna University before it was demolished, in Jaffna. The memorial is a statue of hands reaching toward the sky coming out of a pile of rubble.

UN Human Rights Council Outlines Sri Lanka Abuses, But Demurs on Action

It’s not the robust independent mechanism victims campaigned for, or the referral to the ICC that they deserve, but it is a potential path to justice.
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