International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
641 Articles

Letter to the Editor: Chatham House Report and Individual Criminal Liability of Gov’t Officials
To the Editor: The Chatham House paper on “Aiding and Assisting: Challenges in Armed Conflict and Counterterrorism,” (see, State Complicity in Other States’ Bad Acts—and…

Aiding and Assisting: The Relationship with International Criminal Law?
Just Security and Chatham House are hosting a “mini forum” to debate and discuss Chatham House’s new research paper on “Aiding and Assisting: Challenges in Armed Conflict…

US Transparency Regarding International Law in Cyberspace
Last Thursday, State Department Legal Adviser Brian Egan, delivered an important speech at Berkeley Law School on the relationship between international law and cyber activities. …

What are the Legal Issues Surrounding the Use of Depleted Uranium in Syria and Iraq?
Although it received little attention at the time, journalist Samuel Oakford broke the story last month that the Pentagon has confirmed using weapons containing depleted uranium…

Laws of War: Humanitarian Stallion or Trojan Horse?
Reuters recently reported that “armed militia groups are preparing for the possibility of a stolen election on Nov. 8 and civil unrest in the days following a victory by Democrat…

Full Text: “Oxford Guidance on Law of Relief Operations During Armed Conflict”
In today’s conflict zones, from Syria to Sudan, it is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible at times, for those providing humanitarian relief to reach the people…

How We Read a NYT Story on UN Responsibility for Peacekeepers’ Misconduct
A new Haitian cholera vaccination program. Image by UN/MINUSTAH/Logan Abassi In this post, we’re trying something attempted once before at Just Security. Below, we present an…

Untangling the Web of Actors in Syria and Additional Complexities of Classifying Armed Conflicts
As the international community struggles to find solutions to the humanitarian crisis in Syria, several recent posts at Just Security and elsewhere have offered interpretations…

Human Shields in Mosul
Daesh’s inhumanity seems to know no bounds. For its latest depravity, the group has forcibly expelled hundreds of civilians from nearby villages and forced them to serve as…

The Terminology of War and the Consequences for Executive Power
Just Security has hosted a number of interesting exchanges over the last week concerning the international and political implications of identifying the existence of an armed conflict.…

Letter to the Editor from Professor Terry Gill on Classification of International Armed Conflict
Firstly, many thanks to Professor Adil Haque for reading my piece and for his thoughtful comments on it, both favorable and less so. Let me briefly reply to some of the points…

The Law of Consent-Based Interventions
In a recent Just Security post, Adil Ahmad Haque asks what legal rules constrain the use of military force by an intervening state acting without the host state’s consent. Recognizing…