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
Studies: Mass Detention of Migrant Families is Unnecessary, Inefficient
The administration’s turn toward mass detention of asylum seekers and migrants flies in the face of numerous empirical studies, including the government’s own statistics, that…
Protecting Civilians in Cyberspace: Ideas for the Road Ahead
Distinctions between offline and online conflicts are blurring as tools and tactics deployed in cyberspace trigger real world consequences. In Mexico, for example, commercial spyware…
Global Responses to President Trump’s Family Separation via “Zero-Tolerance” Detention Policy
Children in cages. Children under five crying alone. Anguished parents. As these images have assaulted Americans’ sensibilities in recent weeks, they have also brought international…
A Belief Shattered: The International Criminal Court’s Bemba Acquittal
BANGUI – On June 8, the appeals chamber at the International Criminal Court acquitted Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo of all charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity of murder,…
Saudi Arabia’s Misleading Email to Congress After Bombing of MSF Cholera Hospital
On a recent Wednesday night in June, Saudi Arabia’s embassy emailed members of the U.S. Congress providing them something between a false and misleading account of an air strike…
Detainees in Iraq Win Damages from Denmark in High Court Ruling
A Danish High Court (‘Østre Landsret’) decided this month that the Danish government should compensate a group of Iraqi nationals who sued the Ministry of Defense over ill…
“Zero Tolerance” and the Detention of Children: Torture under International Law
The Trump administration will continue to run afoul of refugee and human rights law unless and until it stops criminalizing refugees and ends the unjustified detention of children.
In Saudi Arabia, Countering Terrorism Becomes Chimera for Rights Abuses
Saudi Arabia’s drive to counter terrorism has become a convenient chimera to support crackdowns on legitimate public dissent and political or social activism of any kind, and…
Appeals Judges Turn the ICC on its Head with Bemba Decision
Reversing Bemba's conviction turns the ICC's procedures upside down, with extremely negative consequences for the institution.
The Department of Defense’s Report on Civilian Casualties: A Step Forward in Transparency?
While the Pentagon's new report on civilian casualties is a step in the right direction, future DoD reports should include more detail on specific incidents, including discrepancies…
The Technicolor Zone of Cyberspace, Part 2
What did the UK attorney general say about the principle of sovereignty in cyberspace and countermeasures as a self-help remedy to cyber-enabled breaches of international law?
Rogue Satellites Launched Into Outer Space: Legal and Policy Implications
Earlier this year, a Silicon Valley start-up called Swarm Technologies used an Indian launch vehicle to place four experimental satellites in outer space. This was despite the…