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.
3,498 Articles

European Human Rights Court Deals a Heavy Blow to the Lawfulness of Bulk Surveillance
In a seminal decision updating and consolidating its previous jurisprudence on surveillance, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights took a sideways swing at mass…

A Legal Map of Airstrikes in Syria (Part 2)
Editor’s Note: This is the second post in a two-part series discussing the legal justifications various countries have put forth related to airstrikes in Syria. You can find…

The Government’s Surprising (and Flawed) New Attack on Habeas Corpus in Immigration Cases
These days, most discussions of the US Constitution’s Suspension Clause — and the entitlement to judicial review that it codifies — center upon non-citizen terrorism suspects…

A Legal Map of Airstrikes in Syria (Part 1)
Editor’s Note: This is the first post in a two-part series discussing the legal justifications various countries have put forth related to airstrikes in Syria. You can find…

The More Things Stay the Same: Another Week of Military Commission Hearings
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…

Cross-Border Data Requests: A Response to Greg Nojeim
Editor’s note: This post also appears on Lawfare. Last week on Lawfare, Greg Nojeim responded to — and raised a set of questions about — our proposed framework for dealing…

Targeting Tankers — and Their Drivers — Under the Law of War (Part 2)
Leaflets dropped 45 minutes before airstrikes targeting ISIL oil tankers. Image credit: US Defense Department Editor’s Note: This is the second in a two-part post discussing…

Targeting Tankers Under the Law of War (Part 1)
Editor’s Note: This is the first in a two-part post discussing how the law of war applies to airstrikes against oil tanker trucks. You can read Part Two here. On November…

International Law and the UN GGE Report on Information Security
The international community recently took an important step toward establishing global norms of behavior in cyberspace with the publication of the UN’s outcome report from its…

Counting to Six in Al Bahlul IV
I have nothing of substance to add to Marty’s excellent recap of this morning’s en banc D.C. Circuit oral argument in “Al Bahlul IV,” and agree with him entirely that…

Reflections from the en banc al Bahlul oral argument
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, sitting en banc (absent Judge Srinivasan, who is recused) just finished hearing about 90 minutes of oral argument in the al Bahlul…

The US Holocaust Memorial Museum: “ISIL Is Committing Genocide Against the Yezidis in Iraq”
The US Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) has issued an important and distressing report characterizing violence against the Yezidi people in 2014 in Iraq as amounting to genocide.…