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.
3,494 Articles
Military Commissions and Unintended Constitutional Consequences
Over at Lawfare, I have a post up this morning providing a preview of next Tuesday’s oral argument in the D.C. Circuit in In re al-Nashiri–a mandamus action challenging…
Did the U.S.-Israeli killing of Mughniyah violate international law?
Over the weekend, The Washington Post reported on a joint U.S.-Israeli operation that killed Imad Mughniyah—Hezbollah’s reported chief of international operations—on the…
International Cyber Governance: Engagement Without Agreement?
The following post is the latest installment of our Monday Reflections feature in which a different Just Security editor takes an in-depth look at the big stories from the…
Members Only: Al Qaeda’s Charter List Revealed After 13 Years in US Hands
A fascinating bit of evidence about al Qaeda’s early days emerged yesterday during the trial of alleged al Qaeda operative Khaled al-Fawwaz – what federal prosecutors call…
One Way Sri Lanka Can Shield its ex-Defense Secretary from a U.S. Criminal Prosecution
Last week, Sri Lanka’s Justice Deputy Minister responded to an Op-Ed that I published in the New York Times, in which I described reasons that the United States can and should…
Assad: Willing to risk direct confrontation with U.S. over moderate rebels—and stronger opposition to US airstrikes
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s interview with Foreign Affairs’ Jonathan Tepperman provides several important nuggets for international lawyers and policymakers to analyze.…
What it Really Means to “Close Guantánamo”
[Editors’ Note: 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…
The Gov’t of Sri Lanka Responds to my NYT Op-Ed on U.S. War Crimes Probe of ex-Defense Secretary
The government of Sri Lanka’s Justice Deputy Minister has responded to an Op-Ed that I published in the New York Times in which I described the reasons that the United States…
Assessing (Again) the Defensive Operations in Syria
The military operations against the Islamic State and Khorasan group in Syria have already received a lot of attention among international lawyers. The conversation has focused…
The Establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for Palestine (Part II)
I ended Part I of this series yesterday by arguing that the Palestinians’ dualistic bid to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) amounts to lawfare, in that they are not…
2 Years and 55 Prisoners To Go: It’s Time for a Lot More Guantanamo Review Boards
In 2001, Tariq Mahmoud Ahmed al Sawah, a veteran of the war in Bosnia who’d joined up with al Qaeda in Afghanistan, landed in U.S. custody. Injured by a cluster bomb in the Afghan…
How to Interpret the UN Human Rights Committee’s Comment on National Security Detentions: State Party Submissions
Last October, the United Nations Human Rights Committee adopted General Comment No. 35 (GC) which has important implications for international law regulating detentions, including…