Laws of War
101 Articles
How We Read a NYTimes Story on Drone Strikes in Yemen
In this post, we’re trying something new. Below, we present an almost line-by-line annotation of yesterday’s New York Times story on US and Yemeni military operations in…
Consequences of the Fact-Based Armed Conflict Test in Yemen’s Internal Armed Conflict
Ryan’s recent post about ongoing “drone strikes” in Yemen raises an issue that has troubled me for quite some time from a legal, policy, and advocacy perspective. In the…
Crime, Sentencing and the War on Terror: Further Thoughts on the Al Darbi Plea
Last month, Ahmed Muhammed Haza al Darbi became the sixth Guantanamo detainee to plead guilty to war crimes before a military commission. The U.S. has accused al Darbi of various…
An al Qaeda Armed Conflict with France or Malaysia?: The Legal Question at the Heart of the al Darbi Case
Yesterday the Acting Convening Authority of the GTMO Military Commissions, Navy General Counsel Paul Oostburg Sanz, referred charges against Ahmed Mohammed Ahmed Haza al Darbi,…
Horrific New Evidence of Syrian War Crimes Emerges
The Guardian has published a piece describing the emergence of disturbing new evidence of the commission of “industrial scale war crimes” in Syrian detention centers. …
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…
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.”…
Remarks on the Holy See’s Statement on Weaponized Drones
[Editor’s Note by Ryan Goodman – As Sarah Knuckey explains in an accompanying post, a statement by the Holy See at an intergovernmental conference in November constitutes…
Report to the General Assembly on Armed Drones and the Right to Life (or drones should follow the law, not the other way around)
[Editorial note: Last week, the United Nations discussed two major reports on drones. Just Security’s coverage included posts by Philip Alston, Ryan Goodman (here, here), Kevin…
Belonging to a Party to a Non-International Armed Conflict: A Reply to Kevin Jon Heller [Updated]
In a recent post, I argued that an unexplored and independent legal basis exists for the US practice of targeting “associated forces” of al-Qaeda: the rules governing armed…
Invented (and Real) Criticisms of the Human Rights Watch Report on Targeted Killings in Yemen
The major reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty International (AI) on targeted killings make valuable contributions to public debate (see Sarah Knuckey’s Guide to the…