International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
641 Articles

Targeted Killing of General Soleimani: Why the Laws of War Should Apply, and Why it Matters
In her thought provoking and thorough piece, Agnes Callamard addresses – among many other issues – the question whether the US strike against General Qassem Soleimani was subject…

Civilian Casualties: A Case for U.S. Condolence Payments in Syria
The U.S. military acknowledges it unintentionally killed 40 civilians in a 2017 air strike, but rejects appeals to help those who survived.

Congress Expands Oversight of U.S. Payments for Civilian Deaths
The payments are among the only ways the U.S. military acknowledges and responds to civilian deaths or injuries in its operations, and previous reporting exposed significant gaps…

Hidden Gems: Civilian Casualties and Use of Force Reporting Provisions in the Annual Defense Bill
For all the ways that the NDAA falls short on various human rights issues, there are some bright spots that should not be overlooked.

Assessing the New U.S. “View” on the Legality of Israeli Settlements in the West Bank
In his remarks to the press yesterday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the following with respect to the settlement of Israeli civilians in the West Bank. I’ve highlighted…

Suit Against Sri Lankan Presidential Candidate Rajapaksa Dismissed on Common Law Immunity Grounds
Among other deficiencies, the ruling failed to acknowledge jurisprudence from other courts indicating that jus cogens violations can never constitute “official” acts entitling…

The Netherlands Releases a Tour de Force on International Law in Cyberspace: Analysis
The Dutch make a major contribution to interpretation and application of international law in cyberspace with careful legal analysis on topics ranging from sovereignty to the use…

Sri Lankan War Criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa May Escape Accountability Yet Again, This Time by Running for President
Recent developments in a pair of human rights cases in U.S. federal court against former Sri Lankan Defense Minister and current presidential hopeful Gotabaya (“Gota”) Rajapakse…

An Overview of International Humanitarian Law in France’s New Cyber Document
France's positions explained - with translations of key text - on important issues like the meaning of "attack" and the application of the principles of distinction and proportionality…

Do Moral Judgments of War Support the Principle of Combatant Equality?: What Empirical Studies Tells Us
Are our moral intuitions about war in line with the crucial principle of combatant equality in the law of armed conflict? A moral psychology study begins mapping out and explaining…

The Yemen Project: Open Source Investigations and the Law of War
An unprecedented open source investigation aids the legal analysis of allegedly unlawful strikes by the Saudi-led coalition, but also has limits in reaching legal conclusions under…

Yemen Group of Experts’ Report Highlights Need to Halt Arms Sales
The UN Group of Experts’ report on Yemen shows that the U.S (and its allies) have helped create a humanitarian disaster in Yemen and have a duty to help end it, starting by immediately…