Humanitarian Intervention
47 Articles

The Tigray Conflict at One Year: Ethiopia’s Descent into Famine and Civil War
Without deeper international engagement to pause the fighting and facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid, the worst is yet to come.

With Deliberate Famine Threatening Millions, Tigray Demands Greater Action from the US
As a man-made famine endangers millions of lives, it is urgent the Biden administration intensify pressure on the Ethiopian government beyond the sanctions it has already put in…

Turkey’s Humanitarian Rationale for its Idlib Offensive in Syria
The legality of forcible humanitarian intervention is the subject of great debate. But the situation in Idlib over the past year had grown catastrophic.

The Latin American View of Jus ad Bellum
For the past few weeks, Rebecca Ingber, Elvina Pothelet, Priya Pillai and I have been engaged in the task of systematizing State reactions to the April 14 air strikes carried out…

A View from a Syrian International Lawyer: Were the April 14 Strikes Legal?
On April 14, the United States, the United Kingdom and France conducted air strikes in Syria in response to the Syrian government’s alleged use of chemical weapons in Douma.…

Germany’s Research Report on the Syria Strikes: Unlawful Acts of Reprisal
Just hours after the United States, United Kingdom and France launched the first series of coordinated strikes against targets related to Syria’s chemical weapons program, Germany’s…

UPDATE: Mapping States’ Reactions to the Syria Strikes of April 2018
Fifty percent more states are added to this database on global reactions to the US, UK, France strikes on Syria last month. What were the international community's true views on…

Mapping States’ Reactions to the U.S. Strikes Against Syria of April 2018–A Comprehensive Guide
[First version, May 7, 2018 with 79 States and 2 intergovernmental organizations] This is the permanent page for the Mapping States’ Reactions to the Syria Strikes of April 2018…

Mapping States’ Reactions to the Syria Strikes of April 2018
Statements, Chart, and Map for every state in the world that has taken a public position on the legality and justification of strikes in Syria conducted by the US, UK, and France.

The Legality of Using Force to Deter Chemical Warfare
We should not be asking whether the missile strikes against Syria's chemical weapons program represent a lawful humanitarian intervention. Instead, we should be asking if – and…

The Real “Red Line” Behind Trump’s April 2018 Syria Strikes
Former State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh writes that strikes on Syria could be legal, but key unanswered factual questions remain about April's operation. What's also missing…

Bad Legal Arguments for the Syria Strikes
There is no apparent domestic or international legal authority for the airstrikes conducted in Syria on April 14.