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.
3,518 Articles
Global Group of Civil Society Organizations Raise Concerns about U.S.-led Drone Export Initiative
On Tuesday, 19 civil society organizations from around the world issued a joint statement with their concerns about a U.S.-led initiative that seeks to set out international standards…
After 16 Years of War, Senate Finally Debates Need for War Debate
After 15 years of no debate on the floor of the Congress since the last war authorization and 16 years of war—the longest in the nation’s history—the U.S. Senate spent 45…
Senate Appropriations Bill Rejects Trump’s Efforts to Downsize State Department and USAID
Last week, the Senate Committee on Appropriations, chaired by Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), approved a State & Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2018.…
Legal Questions About the Airstrike Against the ISIS “Happy Journeys” Convoy
This week American-led airstrikes deterred the advance of a convoy carrying a group of ISIS fighters and civilians as it traveled from Lebanon to an ISIS safe-haven in Syria. The…
What Can Stop the Next Black Hawk Down: Risks to Special Operation Forces in the Trump Era
(Editors’ note: This article first appeared as a three-part series. We are reproducing it here in full.) Twenty-four years ago this month, President Bill Clinton, a first-term…
Key U.S. Foreign Policy Positions—including Ambassador for War Crimes—Saved from Getting Axed
Just Security recently broke the story that the State Department was considering shuttering or downgrading certain functional offices and Senate-confirmed ambassadorships within…
Proposed 2019 Start Date for 9/11 Trial Faces Skepticism from Gitmo Judge
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba — The military commission proceeding against five detainees allegedly responsible for the September 11th terrorist attacks is slowly inching…
An Update of the Israel-Palestine-International Criminal Court Timeline
A lot has happened before the International Criminal Court since we last reported on the Palestine and related situations. The timeline below picks up where my last timeline of…
New ICC Arrest Warrant Indirectly Implicates Libyan Warlord, a U.S. Citizen
As I wrote yesterday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced last week that it had issued a new arrest warrant for Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, a militia leader…
Federal Court: US Can Extradite Ex-El Salvador Official to Spain for Jesuits Massacre
On Monday, U.S. federal judge Terrence Boyle ruled that Inocente Orlando Montano Morales (Montano)—who headed El Salvador’s National Police as Vice Minister for Public Security…
The ICC’s New Libya Case: Extraterritorial Evidence for an Extraterritorial Court
The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced last week that it had issued a new arrest warrant for Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli, a militia leader in Libya. Al-Werfalli…
Aggression, Armed Conflict, and the Right to Life: Does UN Human Rights Committee Get it Right?
Is it possible to respect the human right to life in the context of war? Or does war, by its very nature, involve the arbitrary deprivation of life? Last month, the United Nations…