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
Introduction to Just Security Series on UN Yemen Report
We're launching a series by legal experts discussing a major UN report on the Yemen War.
Questions on Legality of Israeli Strikes in Iraq and Lebanon
A flurry of news reports during the final week of August detailed recent Israeli air strikes against Iranian affiliated groups in Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. The Washington Post…
Why a Judge’s Terrorism Watchlist Ruling is a Game Changer: What Happens Next
Leading expert and author of a book on the subject, Jeffrey Kahn explains what happens now that a court declared a major terrorist watchlist unconstitutional.
National Security at the United Nations This Week
A UN report finds potential complicity in Yemen war crimes by the US, France, & Britain; the IAEA reports further crumbling of the Iran Nuclear Deal; the UN warns of a risk of…
What if a President Committed Genocide or Other Atrocity Crimes?
Ambassador David Scheffer writes: Whether or not the Justice Department opinions are correct about presidential immunity from indictment for ordinary crimes … Lawmakers should…
The Once and Future Threat of Nuclear Weapon Testing
Some Trump administration officials have signaled hostility to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and an interest in the United States resuming nuclear weapon testing, which could…
Protections Fall for Vietnamese Immigrants as Trump Pushes Deportations
The Trump administration has reinterpreted a 2008 agreement with Vietnam in multiple ways to expand the categories of refugees it can deport. The effort appears to have affected…
U.S. Sanctions Against Iran’s Foreign Minister and International Law
Sanctions against a foreign minister are a provocation that impede diplomacy. Their legality under international law also turns out to be a complex issue.
Second Circuit Gets Civil Forfeiture under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act Wrong
Are foreign states and their property immune from civil forfeiture suits brought by the U.S.? In a case involving a Manhattan skyscraper controlled by Iran, the Second Circuit…
“Fiat Justitia”: Implications of a Canadian Military Justice Decision for International Justice
A watershed ruling by Canada's Supreme Court sheds light on compliance of military justice systems with human rights norms.
Part III: The Muddy Middle: A New Framework for Use of Force
We may not have wanted to land in this muddy middle between peace and war that we currently find ourselves in, but this is the reality of the current moment in the counterterrorism…
Proportionality and 150 Iranian Lives: Do They “Count”?
General (ret.) Ken Watkin explains why assessing civilian casualties in the jus ad bellum proportionality analysis is the right approach.