United Nations (UN)
1,271 Articles
It’s a Serious Mistake for the US Government To Maintain It Need Not Follow Human Rights Law Beyond US Borders
[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…
Forum on the Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties: Analyzing the State Department Memos
The New York Times, in a must-read story by Charlie Savage, provides the full text of two significant memos written by Harold Koh during his time as Legal Adviser of the State…
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…
Too Much War, Not Enough Human Rights from the UN Special Rapporteur and European Parliament
Special Rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism Ben Emmerson’s latest report and the European Parliament’s resolution on drones highlight some pressing issues. Most…
Key Findings in New UN Special Rapporteur Report on Drones
The UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson, has now released the final report on…
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…
United Nations Releases New Report on Drones
[Editor’s note: Emmerson’s drone report is also publicly available on the UN website.] Last year, two UN Special Rapporteurs released major reports on drones — a…
Accountability & North Korea in Light of the Commission of Inquiry’s Report
An earlier post addressed the origins, mandate, and results of the Human Rights Council’s Commission of Inquiry dedicated to examining the commission of crimes against humanity…
Disturbing Findings of the North Korea Commission of Inquiry
The Commission of Inquiry (COI) focused on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) released its first report this week. The report is a monumental depiction of the…
UN Joint Special Representative for Syria Holds Press Conference
[UPDATE: What ended up being a very short press conference is now over, we will include a video when it is made available by the UN] Happening now, Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN Joint…
Yemen Immunity in Jeopardy?
The Yemeni press last week published a fascinating interview with Mohammed Al-Mekhlafi, the Minister of Legal Affairs of Yemen, who suggests that notwithstanding the existence…
Trials in Absentia Under International, Domestic and Lebanese Law
As a follow on to our backgrounder on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, one additional feature of the current proceedings is worthy of note: the trials are proceedings in absentia. …