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
U.S. Fails to Acknowledge Killing Yemeni Civilians
A Yemen-based human rights organization has documented the impact of U.S. air strikes for the last seven years. The results contradict DOD's report.
The Trump Administration’s Indefensible Legal Defense of Its Asylum Ban
"The Trump administration has finally made public its legal justification for its decision to halt asylum processing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it is embarrassingly bad.…
The Fatal Flaw in DOD’s Latest Civilian Casualties Report
Lawmakers and even the Trump administration have increasingly expressed concern about the United States waging an “endless war,” and among those concerns is the impact on civilians…
The Syrian War’s Forcing Effect on International Law
A new book by Scharf, Sterio, and Williams demonstrates how global legal standards have shifted with the increasing complexity of war.
COVID-19 and Health Systems: Responding to Unpredictable Predictability
Health systems across the world have been tested by this pandemic, and many have been found wanting, surprised by the pandemic’s ferocity and its unknowness, its seeming unpredictability.…
Getting It Wrong: The 9/11 Military Commission and the Justiciability of Armed Conflict
In an apparent effort to preserve its own jurisdiction while proceeding towards trial, the 9/11 military commission has made a hash of its armed conflict jurisprudence. It has…
The Importance of New Statements on Sovereignty in Cyberspace by Austria, the Czech Republic and United States
With now five States openly supporting the sovereignty-as-a-rule position, the U.K. and United States (or at least the U.S. Department of Defense) find themselves in the minority,…
National Security at the United Nations This Week (May 1-8)
(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,…
Here’s What the New DoD Policy on Civilian Harm Should Include
It should standardize good practice and set the bar where it belongs: safeguarding civilian life from the effects of U.S. military operations.
Grading DOD’s Annual Civilian Casualties Report: “Incomplete”
The new information demonstrates how much progress the department has made and yet how much of a paradigm shift is still needed for full accountability.
Iranian Gunboat Harassment and the Rules of Engagement
What to make of Trump's order to “shoot down and destroy” lranian boats that harass US vessels. International law and Standing Rules of Engagement place significant limits.
Accountability in the Time of COVID-19: Syria & Iraq
The coronavirus crisis has dominated the global news coverage, but the war in Syria has not gone away. The ceasefire brokered by Turkey and Russia in March 2020 remains fragile,…