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
The Saudi Playbook: Self-Investigations of Civilian Deaths in Yemen and Khashoggi
We’ve been here before. Saudi Arabia has a sordid track record of announcing formal mechanisms to look into deaths of civilians at the hands of its own officers which have then…
The U.N. Security Council’s Outsized Role in Shaping Counter Terrorism Regulation and Its Impact on Human Rights
This week, as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, I submitted my annual report to the…
U.S. Libel Case Over Russian Poisoning Takes Aim at Kremlin Propaganda
A lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Manhattan alleges defamation by two Kremlin-controlled television stations widely available in the United States concerning the infamous poisoning…
The Torture of Forcibly Separating Children from their Parents
A detailed analysis of why the family separation policy amounts to government-sanctioned torture.
What Is the Flores Agreement, and What Happens If the Trump Administration Withdraws from It?
If the Trump administration succeeds in ending a decades-old court decision governing the treatment of migrant children, it will be able to detain migrant children indefinitely…
Dispelling Some Myths About Consular Immunity and the Khashoggi Investigation
Turkey and Saudi Arabia are both parties to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). Because the alleged acts took place at a consulate rather than the Saudi embassy,…
Trump Gets “Presumption of Innocence” Wrong on Saudi Responsibility for Khashoggi Disappearance
President Donald Trump has weighed in several times in recent days on the disappearance of Jamal Khashoggi in ways that seem intended to minimize Saudi Arabia’s responsibility,…
What Are the Consequences of the Trump Administration’s Recent Treaty Withdrawals?
Resorting to treaty withdrawal in response to adverse actions by other parties or decisions by international courts sets a destabilizing precedent.
Justice Dept Must Open Criminal Investigation Into Potential War Crimes by U.S. Mercenaries in Yemen
the Justice Dept has clear authority to investigate a band of American mercenaries for alleged killings carried out in Yemen, acts which may amount to murder or war crimes.
On Big Brother Watch v. U.K.: The Future of Surveillance at Two Europe-Wide Courts
A recent opinion by the European Court of Human Rights was more limited than recent decisions concerning surveillance. The European Court of Justice should seize the opportunity…
Contempt Prosecutions Require Comity Between Branches of Government, Now Add Trump
The campaign season for the midterm elections is in full swing, with the Republican majorities in the House and, to a lesser extent, Senate in some peril. Should we have a divided…
Bolstered EU Force Could Help Stabilize Bosnia, as Russia and Elections Close In
On Oct. 7, Bosnia will hold its most contentious and divisive elections since the war that killed 100,000 people in the 1990s. The risk of state disintegration in the immediate…