International Law
513 Articles

Now is the Time to Think About Detentions with ISIL: A Response to Benjamin Wittes
Over at Lawfare, Ben Wittes shrugs off Jeff Stein’s important question,“What Will U.S. Forces Do With ISIS Prisoners?” Ben’s reaction, I believe, minimizes several important…

Strikes in Syria: The International Law Framework
[Cross-posted at Lawfare] As is now well-known, the United States last night hit approximately 25 targets inside Syria, some of which were directed at ISIL, and some at a group…

Unwilling or Unable: A Roundup of Just Security’s Debate on the Legality of Airstrikes Inside Syria
While it was only last night that the United States and five Arab nations began air strikes against ISIL and the al-Qaeda-linked Khorasan group inside Syria, Just Security has…

The United States’ Long (and Proud) Tradition in Support of the Extraterritorial Application of International Human Rights Law
[Editor’s Note: Just Security is holding a “mini forum” on the extraterritorial application of human rights treaties in light of the release of two State Department memos and…

The Extraterritoriality of Human Rights Obligations
Following my short post on the extraterritoriality of human rights obligations, and our series on lex specialis and the interface between the law of armed conflict and international…

The Political Support and Divisions Behind the European Parliament Resolution on Drones
By a large majority, the European Parliament yesterday passed a resolution condemning “the use of armed drones outside the international legal framework” and calling on the…

The al Iraqi Case and the Future of Military Commissions
This morning’s New York Times features a story by Charlie Savage about yesterday’s addition of a conspiracy charge to the pending military commission proceeding at…

The Missing Moral Conscience of U.S. Foreign Policy: Where is the State Department’s Legal Adviser? [Updated]
Later today, the Senate will hold confirmation hearings for Caroline Diane Krass to serve as the CIA’s General Counsel, a position that just recently became vacant. Not letting…

The Parallels Between South African and U.S. Law On Universal Jurisdiction
The Parallels Between South African and U.S. Law On Universal Jurisdiction In an earlier post, we noted that the South African universal jurisdiction (UJ) statute is not particularly…

The Unexceptional Nature of the South African Universal Jurisdiction Law
In the wake of the moving funeral of Nelson Mandela, we have reported on the recent ruling of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal mandating that the National Prosecution…

“This One Goes To Eleven”: The ICC and the Security Council
The unprecedented rejection by Saudi Arabia of its elected seat on the Security Council in October, 2013, ostensibly in protest of the Council’s perceived failures in the Middle…

U.S. Intervention at the ICC Assembly of States Parties
The 12th session of the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) of the International Criminal Court has been meeting in The Hague this week. The United States sent an inter-agency delegation…