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.
3,737 Articles
Normative Voids and Asymmetry in Cyberspace
[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…
Taking the Weight off of International Law: Has Syria Consented to US Airstrikes?
US airstrikes in Syria have raised significant questions about whether the US actions violate international law. That controversy would evaporate if Syria took a path of consenting,…
The Sony Hack: Norms and North Korea
In statements on the Sony hack on Friday, both Secretary of State John Kerry and President Obama highlighted the need to develop norms for state behavior in cyberspace. Tying the…
Not to be Forgotten: The Case of Maher Arar
In the midst of our ongoing coverage of the content of, and fall out from, the Senate Select Intelligence Committee Report, and debates about the obligation to devise some form…
Flashback—Ex-Bush Official, Col. Wilkerson: “I am Willing to Testify” If Dick Cheney is Prosecuted for Torture
I was reminded yesterday of an interview on Democracy Now! with Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (ret.) in 2011, in which he was asked about Vice President Dick Cheney’s recently released…
International Law and Cyber Attacks: Sony v. North Korea
It could only happen in the movies. A major Hollywood company produces a film starring well-known comedic actors which involves the tongue-in-cheek assassination of the leader…
Fed Prosecutors: al-Libi Admitted al-Qaeda Membership, Was bin Laden Pen Pal
Nazih Abdul-Hamed al-Ruquai, the alleged al-Qaeda operative from Libya better known by the nomme de guerre Abu Anas al-Libi, has admitted being a charter member of al-Qaeda, according…
Why Do We Talk About Torture The Way We Do?
Editors’ Note: The following post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from…
Cyber Attribution Problems—Not Just Who, but What
Yesterday, Bloomberg News reported that hackers, likely from Russia, caused a 2008 explosion on the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline in Turkey. According to Bloomberg, the…
Five Torturous Steps to Hell
In a short and early section of the SSCI’s redacted summary of its torture report, we can read about the step-by-step descent from humanity to inhumanity, from the 20th century…
Big News: US Closes Bagram Detention Facility
Big news out of Afghanistan—the United States has closed the detention facility at the Bagram Airfield. The last two prisoners were turned over to Afghan authorities on December…
A Guantánamo (Numerical) Milestone, and What It Means…
Although public and media attention has been, understandably, focused on this morning’s release of the SSCI Torture Report, another piece of national security-related news…