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
ICRC’s Public Reply Regarding Order to Turn Over Confidential Reports to Military Commission
As readers may recall, on November 6, Military Commission Judge James Pohl ordered the prosecution to hand over to him all ICRC confidential reports on its visits to Guantanamo…
State Department Concludes Review of NGO Drone Strike Reports, Offers Public Response (Sort of)
The U.S. Department of State told reporters late last week that it had concluded its review of the Amnesty International and HRW targeted killing and drone strike reports. The…
Periodic Review Board Hearings start up at Gitmo this week – but why in Secret?
Although the Pentagon this week will finally start holding review hearings for Guantanamo detainees who remain in indefinite detention and haven’t yet been cleared for release…
Anonymous US Officials Admit CIA Accidentally Killed a Yemeni Child in a Drone Strike
Buried in a Los Angeles Times article yesterday was this remarkable government admission: In June, a drone-launched missile hit an SUV carrying an Al Qaeda commander in Yemen.…
Letter from Human Rights and Civil Liberties Groups Supporting Gitmo Provisions of NDAA
On Friday, a large group of human rights and civil liberties groups sent a joint letter to Members of the Senate in support of the provisions of the NDAA on Guantanamo Bay detainee…
Major New Step Forward For International Debate on Autonomous Weapons Systems
Today, the 117 state parties to the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) agreed to hold the first ever intergovernmental meeting on autonomous weapons systems. The…
Preventive Detention and Human Rights Law: A Way Out of Bagram or Another Dead End?
With the drawdown of US forces in Afghanistan, one of the thorniest problems involves the detention of individuals who cannot be criminally tried but nevertheless pose an acute…
Afghanistan Post-2014: Closing Bagram
With the U.S. combat role in Afghanistan coming to an end, and the Bilateral Security Agreement now under review, officials are under pressure to do something many observers may…
Creative Ambiguity – International Law’s Distant Relationship with Peacetime Spying
In all the sound and fury over “five eye” intercept programs, commentators appear so far to have paid relatively little attention to international law. This is no simple…
More on the Rights of Others – Ben Wittes’ Failure of Imagination
Ben Wittes weighs in today on Lawfare on the side of rejecting privacy rights for anyone but U.S. citizens, aligning himself with Orin Kerr and against myself [see my previous…
Should ICRC Reports on Detainee Visits be Turned Over to Military Commission Defense Counsel?
On November 6, Military Commission Judge James Pohl ordered the prosecution to hand over to him all ICRC confidential reports on its visits to Guantanamo that are in the possession…
Why Killing Terrorists Creates Long-Term Due Process Obligations and What Happens When these Debts Become Due
In July 2013 the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found the United Kingdom in violation of its investigative obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human…