International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
641 Articles
Civilian War Victims Receive Recognition in US Law
When the US military was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, it had no plan for addressing civilian casualties despite following rules prohibiting disproportionate or deliberate…
The Human Rights Committee’s Draft Comment 35 on Detention and Security of Persons: A long, long time coming yet still falls short
On June 30, 1982 the Human Rights Committee adopted General Comment No. 8 on Article 9 (the right to liberty and security of the person). It has taken a mere 32 years – a significant…
Breaking News: The High Commissioner for Human Rights to Investigate the Situation in Sri Lanka
The Human Rights Council on Thursday issued a resolution (with a vote of 23 for, 12 against, and 12 abstentions) asking the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights to “investigate,…
Nils Melzer on Whether U.S. Citizen Abdullah al-Shami is a Lawful Military Target
The Obama Administration is reportedly evaluating whether a lethal operation against a US citizen in Pakistan is legally permissible. Last Friday an important story by Mark Mazzetti…
Missing Transparency: Is the US Response to Reported Drone Attack on Wedding Party Self-Defeating?
On Thursday, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a fact-intensive report based on the group’s investigations into a US drone strike that allegedly hit a wedding party in Yemen…
US Announces Investigation into Wedding Convoy Drone Strike: A Step Toward Accountability?
Last night, NBC’s Michael Isikoff reported that (anonymous) US officials said: “The Obama administration has launched an internal investigation into a Dec. 12 drone strike…
Summary of New Report from the ICRC
Last month, the ICRC released a 90-plus page report titled, “The Use of Force in Armed Conflict: Interplay between the Conduct of Hostilities and Law Enforcement Paradigms.”…
Letter to the Editor: Status of the ICRC Commentaries
In articles posted on successive days, Professor Goodman & Ms Knuckey write ‘one news report incorrectly discounts the importance of the ICRC Commentaries on this provision,…
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…
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…
International Humanitarian Law v. International Human Rights
Note: December 19 “Early Edition” Readers – click here for John Sifton’s guest post, Torture Is Still on the Table. We apologize for the error in the link.…
Kenya in a Global Non-International Armed Conflict Linked to September 11?
A brief recently filed by the President of Kenya before the International Criminal Court makes a provocative claim: Kenya is involved “in a war with radical Islamist groups”…