International Humanitarian Law (IHL)
718 Articles
Evaluating Proportionality and Long-Term Civilian Harm under the Laws of War
As noted by Alex Whiting in his piece last week, the law of armed conflict, or international humanitarian law (IHL), contains broad principles and prohibitions that are applied…
The ICRC Updated Commentaries: Reconciling Form and Substance, Part I
Sean Watts’ July 5, 2016 post focuses attention on two significant documents intended to clarify “how best to read and understand the law of war” in the 21st Century: the…
Chemical Weapons Use Returns to Syria
This post is the latest installment of our “Monday Reflections” feature, in which a different Just Security editor examines the big stories from the previous week or looks…
The Updated First Geneva Convention Commentary, DOD’s Law of War Manual, and a More Perfect Law of War: Part II
Earlier this month, I commented on the similarities and differences between the Updated Commentary on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the US Defense Department’s new Law…
A quick response to John Merriam on proportionality and military medical personnel
Thanks very much to John Merriam for his very thoughtful and insightful post responding to my concerns about the Law of War Manual‘s treatment of how the principle of proportionality…
Must Military Medical and Religious Personnel Be Accounted for in a Proportionality Analysis?
In a recent post, Marty Lederman echoed criticisms previously leveled by Oona Hathaway about the US DOD’s Law of War Manual. The thrust of their criticism is that several Manual…
The Updated First Geneva Convention Commentary, DOD’s Law of War Manual, and a More Perfect Law of War, Part I
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Nearly synonymous with the law of war itself, the universally ratified 1949 Conventions are not merely…
The Good and Bad in the US Government’s Civilian Casualties Announcement
The US government on Friday, July 1 released long-sought information on its views as to how many people it has killed in drone and other strikes “outside areas of active hostilities,”…
The government’s treatment of civilian casualties in counterterrorism operations [updated]
The government has just released two important documents. One is an assessment by the Director of National Intelligence of the cumulative civilian casualties from U.S. counterterrorism…
Troubling proportionality and rule-of-distinction provisions in the Law of War Manual
Oona Hathaway is absolutely right to be alarmed, and deeply concerned, about the “civilians’ assumption of risk” provisions in the new DoD Law of War Manual. If you haven’t…
The Law of War Manual’s Threat to the Principle of Proportionality
On Saturday, I had the honor of speaking to the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) USA General Assembly. In preparing for my talk last week, I came across a section of the US Defense…
“Material Support” and Targeting
Ken Watkin’s thoughtful piece last week — Reflections on Targeting: Looking in the Mirror — addressed the debate on the targeting of war-sustaining economic enterprises as…