International Law
513 Articles

Letter to the Editor: Suggestions for Just Security’s Questions to the Presidential Candidates
I like the idea of Just Security‘s listing questions for the presidential nominees. As you ran them again before last night’s debate, and presumably may run them at…

Just Security’s Questions for Clinton and Trump
Given the importance of tonight’s prime-time debate between US presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, we’re again running our list of vital national…

Correcting the Record on Section 702: A Prerequisite for Meaningful Surveillance Reform, Part II
Last week, we argued that the public discussion surrounding two of the government’s most controversial mass surveillance programs – PRISM and Upstream – has not sufficiently…

In Turkey, Where the More Things Change . . .
The past couple of months have been tumultuous in Turkey. In short order, an ill-conceived military coup was followed by popular mass protest, the quick return of President Recep…

Trump’s Calls to Pillage Iraqi Oil
In his appearance with Secretary Clinton at NBC’s Commander-in-Chief Forum earlier this month, Donald Trump called for actions that amount to a war crime. Addressing US policies…

The Updated First Geneva Convention Commentary, DOD’s Law of War Manual, and a More Perfect Law of War: Part III
This third post of a series on the ICRC’s Updated Commentary on the First Geneva Convention of 1949 offers some concluding observations and further comparisons with the recent…

How the Risk of an Int’l Criminal Court Investigation Should Affect Military Targeting Practices
The International Criminal Court currently has jurisdiction over the territory and nationals of 124 States Parties to the Court, plus Darfur and Libya, where jurisdiction was conferred…

Fighting Human Trafficking in Conflict: Ideas for the UN Security Council
Slavery – is it making a comeback? There is a growing awareness that as many as 45.8 million people may be enslaved around the world today, and that supply-chains for basic commodities…

Weapon, Combatant, Child, Animal: They’re All Insufficient Analogies for Autonomous Weapon Systems
Autonomous weapon systems, that is, weapon systems capable of independently selecting and engaging targets, are usually portrayed in one of two ways. Either they are depicted as…

The ICRC Updated Commentaries: Reconciling Form and Substance, Part II
Last week, I left off my exploration of the International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC) 2016 Updated Commentaries on the First Geneva Convention of 1949 by asking…

A 9/11 Commission Approach to the Russian Hack of the DNC
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…

Are Saudi-led Coalition Forces Committing War Crimes in Yemen?
This month, Saudi-led coalition forces recommenced airstrikes on Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, targeting the forces of Ansar Allah (known as the Houthis), after peace talks that…