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
The UK’s Letter to the UN Security Council Leaves Plenty of Unanswered Questions About Last Month’s RAF Drone Strike
Yesterday, I wrote a post helping to untangle some of the international law questions involved in last month’s UK drone strike in Syria that killed three individuals, two of…
The Legal Questions About the UK’s Drone Strike in Syria
The recent revelations of a UK drone strike in Syria targeting British individuals alleged to be linked to the Islamic State has generated much discussion, and the British government…
Amb. Stephen Rapp on Sri Lanka’s War Crimes Investigation
At the end of August, the United States announced that it would support Sri Lanka’s plan for investigating alleged war crimes that occurred during the final years of the country’s…
Two More British Citizens are Dead From a Targeted Killing in Syria
UK Prime Minister David Cameron speaking before Parliament on Sept. 7 revealed that in addition to alleged ISIL hacker, recruiter, and propagandist Junaid Hussain, two other Britons…
What’s Lost in the Move-Guantánamo-North Debate
Defense Secretary Ash Carter has been doing a lot of public hand-wringing lately over what he’s going to do with the Guantánamo detainees he’s decided will have to be moved…
Armed Opposition Groups’ Courts: Challenging the Lawfulness of Detentions in Light of the Serdar Mohammed Appeals Judgment
Much has already been written on the authority to detain in non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) (see here, here, and here for recent posts). So much so, in fact, that it…
Questions the Media Should Be Asking About DOD’s Latest Targeted Killing
Last week, the Pentagon confirmed that an American drone strike in Raqqa, Syria, killed a hacker named Junaid Hussain, a British man also believed to be a recruiter for ISIL.…
Beyond the APA: The Role of Psychology Boards and State Courts in Propping up Torture
The image of torture in US popular culture is an intimate one: a government agent and a suspect in a dark cell, usually alone. But the reality of our state-sanctioned torture program…
The DOD Law of War Manual and Command Responsibility: Is it Time for a “Necessary and Reasonable” Change to the UCMJ?
Editor’s Note: This post is the latest in Just Security’s “mini forum” on the new Defense Department Law of War Manual. This series includes posts from Sean Watts, Eric…
What Happens if American-Trained Rebels Commit War Crimes?
It is widely known that the US is facing numerous challenges in arming and training a select number of fighters as part of a group known as the “New Syrian Forces,” which are…
The Dark Side of Peace Enforcement: Sexual Exploitation in CAR
Media reports continue to trickle through detailing rape and indiscriminate killing by peacekeepers in the Central African Republic (CAR). Despite condemnation by UN Headquarters…
A Readers’ Guide to our Mini-Forum on DOD’s new Law of War Manual
As you’ve probably noticed this summer, we’ve been hosting a mini-forum on the Defense Department’s Law of War Manual that was published earlier this summer. As Marty Lederman pointed…