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
A Long Time Coming: Understanding the Landmark Ruling from the Khmer Rouge Trials
On Friday morning in Phnom Penh, the Trial Chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)—more commonly known as the Khmer Rouge Trials―delivered a…
The Pentagon Put Someone in Charge of Its Civilian Casualty Policy. Now What?
For all the time and attention that the Defense Department has rightly spent addressing civilian casualties, no single official at the Pentagon has ever been formally charged with…
‘Tactic to Terrorize’: Child Abduction in Cameroon Must Stop
On November 5, around 78 students were kidnapped from a school in Cameroon, allegedly by separatist rebels. The students were released days later, but the story does not end there…
“Protecting Children”: A Welcome Addition to Efforts to Redress Wartime Harms
[This essay is the second in an online mini forum that Just Security is hosting on the new book, Protecting Children in Armed Conflict. Other participants in the mini forum include…
Need for Change to Protect Children in Armed Conflict
[This essay by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Shaheed Fatima QC is the opening of an online mini forum that Just Security is hosting on their new book, Protecting Children in…
Why the ICC Investigation of Forced Displacement in Myanmar Is a Big Deal
In September, Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), announced that she was opening a preliminary examination of forcible deportations of the…
Accountability Fatigue: A Human Rights Law Problem for Armed Forces?
Brigadier-General (ret.) Ken Watkin in conversation with General (ret.) David Petraeus' remarks about human rights law and military policies.
How Dangerous—and How New—Is the Defense Department’s “Collective Self-Defense” Theory?
The Defense Department’s reliance on a broad interpretation of “collective self-defense” appears to authorize military operations further removed from congressional approval…
The 2018 Annual Report of the U.N. International Law Commission
The U.N. International Law Commission’s 2018 annual report is being debated from October 22 to 31 before the Sixth (Legal) Committee of the U.N. General Assembly. Sean Murphy,…
U.S. Military’s “Collective Self-Defense” of Non-State Partner Forces: What Does International Law Say?
Earlier this month, Senator Tim Kaine made public a letter he wrote to Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis asking for clarification on the meaning of “collective self-defense of…
Letter to the Editor: How About Some Regulation of the Mercenary Industry?
Following Sarah Knuckey and Ryan Goodman’s post on U.S. mercenaries in Yemen, I’d like to provide a bit of international legal background to the urgent discussion of whether…
The New ‘Welfare Queen’: Donald Meet Ronald, Ronald Meet Donald
We do not know yet whether 2018 will be the “year of the woman” in the midterm elections, but it’s worth reflecting on one of several particularly low points for women’s…