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.
3,521 Articles

International Standards Regarding the Handling of Demonstrations
Just as much as nauseating scenes of excessive use of force by the police captured by media and citizens’ smartphones fly in the face of the protections that should be afforded…

New Complicity Charges Filed in the Killing of George Floyd
UPDATED As millions of people take to the streets demanding racial justice, accountability for police violence, and the demilitarization of the police, the case against the ex-police…

National Security at the United Nations This Week (May 29-June 5)
(Editor’s Note: This is the latest in Just Security’s weekly series keeping readers up to date on developments at the United Nations at the intersection of national security,…

Pompeo’s Personal Stake in the International Criminal Court’s Afghan Investigation
It is no secret that the Trump administration, in general, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, specifically, are hostile toward the International Criminal Court (ICC), particularly…

On Iranian Gunboats: Beware Conflating American and Mainstream Views of the Law
In a recent essay in Just Security entitled “Iranian Gunboat Harassment and the Rules of Engagement,” Michael Schmitt and Durward Johnson explore important questions raised…

Trump Administration Reverses Position on Corporate Liability Under Alien Tort Statute
In a brief filed last week, the Trump administration reversed its position on corporate liability under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), urging the Supreme Court to grant certiorari…

Trump’s Empty “Withdrawal” from the World Health Organization
WHO withdrawal can't take legal effect until mid-2021 per federal law. That plus other formidable legal obstacles may yet stand in Trump's way.

A Conversation With U.N. Special Rapporteur E. Tendayi Achiume: COVID-19, Racism, and Xenophobia
Editor’s Note: This piece is part of Just Security‘s United Nations Special Rapporteurs on #COVID-19 series, in which mandate holders offer their views on pressing…

The Terrorist as a “Potentially Dangerous Person”: The German Counterterrorism Regime
The attack on Berlin’s Breitscheidplatz in December 2016 was arguably Germany’s 9/11. While German anti-terrorism law previously was influenced “only” by international…

Jurisdiction at Guantanamo: The Case of Long-Term Complicity
The commission should stop asking whether the acts of facilitation occurred during an armed conflict. Rather, the commission should be asking whether the defendants facilitated…

What Counts as State Practice? The Koblenz Trial and Functional Immunity
The Prosecutor, by commencing proceedings against Raslan and Al Gharib, along with in other cases where arrest warrants against Syrian State officials were issued, has already…

Nuclear Arms Control, or a New Arms Race? Trump Seems Bent on the Latter.
More ambitious talks with the Russians and Chinese are a laudable goal. But they can be pursued smartly and without unnecessarily high risk.