Series
Ukraine Symposium – Litigating the Act of Aggression as Human Rights Claims
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reports that since February 2022, there have been 40,176 verified civilian casualties caused by the conflict in Ukraine: 12,340 killed and 27,836 injured. The number of combatant casualties is much higher. President...
Ukraine Symposium – The Continuing Autonomous Arms Race
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine drags into a grueling war of attrition, both sides are intensifying efforts to achieve a battlefield breakthrough with technological innovation. The invasion has sparked a rapid proliferation of low-cost drones and robotic systems that...
Al Hassan Symposium – A Disappointment for the Victims of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Timbuktu
Editors’ note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Lawand Articles of War blogs. The symposium addresses the ICC’s judgment in the Al Hassan case. The introductory post is available here. On June 26, 2024, the...
Al Hassan Symposium – The Defences of Duress and Mistake of Law in the Al Hassan Trial Judgment
The following post by Antonio Coco focuses on the defences of duress and mistake of law in the Al Hassan judgment. The post was published on the Armed Groups and International Law as part of the joint Articles of War and AGIL Al Hassan Symposium. ...
Al Hassan Symposium – Justice Served (f)or Justice Denied? – The ICC Trial Chamber’s Approach to the War Crime of Passing Sentences Without a Regularly Constituted Court under Article 8(2)(c)(iv) of the Rome Statute
The following post by Hannes Jöbstl focuses on the ICC Trial Chamber’s approach to the war crime of passing sentences without a regularly constituted court under Article 8(2)(c)(iv) of the Rome Statute. The post was published on the Armed Groups and International...
Al Hassan Symposium – Superior Orders: A (Hopefully) Overlooked Afterthought
Editors’ note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Law and Articles of War blogs. The symposium addresses the ICC’s judgment in the Al Hassan case. The introductory post is available here. In its 822-page judgment in the...
Al Hassan Symposium – International Human Rights Law, Nexus and Non-State Armed Groups: Still a Mystery
The following post by Ezequiel Heffes focuses on a critical issue raised in the Al Hassan judgment that has not received much attention in recent debates related to the case: the possible application of international human rights law to non-State armed groups and the...
Al Hassan Symposium – The ICC’s Coerced Confession Double Standard
Editors’ note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Law and Articles of War blogs. The symposium addresses the ICC’s judgment in the Al Hassan case. The introductory post is available here. On June 26, 2024, the...
Al Hassan Symposium – Towards the Acceptance of the Aggregated Violence Approach?
Editors’ note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Law and Articles of War blogs. The symposium addresses the ICC’s judgment in the Al Hassan case. The introductory post is available here. On June 26, 2024, Trial Chamber...
Al Hassan Symposium – (Re) Introduction
In July of 2023, Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law jointly launched a series of posts covering the forthcoming trial judgment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in Prosecutor v. Al Hassan. The case addressed charges relating to acts by...
Ukraine Symposium – “Public Curiosity” and the North Korean POWs
The Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict, which started with Russia’s takeover of Crimea in 2014 and grew with its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, escalated further with the recent involvement of North Korean troops. North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un,...
Ukraine Symposium – The Budapest Memorandum’s History and Role in the Conflict
Last month of 2024 marked the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Budapest Memorandum, part of an agreement by which Ukraine gave up its nuclear arsenal in return for security assurances by Russia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The Memorandum, signed...
Ukraine Symposium – North Korea’s Entry into International Armed Conflict
In recent months, the world has observed the methodical introduction of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) into the ongoing Russia-Ukraine international armed conflict (IAC). On June 19, 2024, President Vladimir Putin met with North Korean leader, Kim...
Al Hassan Symposium – Complicity in Torture and the ICC
The following post by Michel Paradis focuses on the legal issues the ICC's Trial Chamber should reexamine in making its final judgment, specifically whether Al Hassan’s credible allegations of torture compel the Trial Chamber to disregard the statements he made to the...
Al Hassan Symposium – Gendered Crime as a Central Focus in the ICC’s Al-Hassan Case
The following post by Valerie Oosterveld and Nicole Dotson focuses on gendered crime as a central focus in the ICC’s Al Hassan case. The post was published on the Armed Groups and International Law as part of the joint Articles of War and AGIL Al Hassan Symposium....
Al Hassan Symposium – The War Crime of Sentencing or Execution without Due Process in the Al Hassan Case: The Interpretative Pitfalls Hidden in the Application of the Crime
The following post by Diletta Marchesi focuses on the most important interpretative pitfalls hidden in the application of the crime of sentencing or execution without due process. The post was published on the Armed Groups and International Law as part of the joint...
Ukraine Symposium – Dragon Drones and the Law of Armed Conflict
In early September, social media users uploaded videos depicting a Ukrainian drone spewing a burning substance along a dense tree line, allegedly where Russian troops were hiding (see here, here, here, and here). Although the longest video spans no more than 30...
Ukraine Symposium – Ukraine’s “Indefinite” Incursion into Russia and the Jus ad Bellum
In early August, following two and a half years of attempts to repulse invading Russian forces from its eastern territories, Ukraine conducted a large-scale ground counteroffensive into Russia from its northern border. In the largest incursion of its kind since the...
EU Support to Ukraine through Windfall Profits: Reparative Value, International Law, and Future Pathways
Over two years into the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the fate of Russian assets frozen by Western sanctions is followed almost as closely as battlefield developments. Considering the figures at play (assets worth an estimated $300 billion),...
Ukraine Symposium – Is Ukraine Occupying Territory in Russia?
In the early morning hours of August 6, Ukrainian forces in armored vehicles moved into the Kursk region of Russia. This surprise offensive by Ukraine into Russia represents the largest foreign incursion into Russia since the Second World War. By August 15, the...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Conclusion
Although a much wider analysis is possible (and is done elsewhere) I thought it important to highlight the uniting factor that has emerged so far in the various posts in Articles of War based on three volumes of the Laws of Yesterday’s Wars series. This final post...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Mongol Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s third edited volume of Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Dr Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post....
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – South Sudanese Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s third edited volume of Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Dr Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. Our...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Rules and “Right” in Iban Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s third edited volume of Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Dr Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post....
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Kalaripayattu to IHL: The Ancient Roots of Legal Warfare Practices in Malabar
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s third edited volume of Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Dr Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. For...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Ottoman Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s third edited volume of Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Dr Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. The...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Introduction
Last year, Articles of War hosted a symposium highlighting volumes one and two of the Laws of Yesterday’s Wars book series published by Brill Nijhoff. The symposium included posts that studied the laws of war of Islamic, Native American, East African, Indigenous...
Ukraine Symposium – Russia’s Use of Riot Control Agents in Ukraine
Russian forces are reportedly using non-lethal chemical weapons known as riot control agents (RCA) to flush combatants out of trenches in eastern Ukraine before attacking them with conventional munitions. According to a report published by Reuters on April 17, the...
Ukraine Symposium – New ICC Arrest Warrants for Russian Flag Officers
The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) wanted list for Russian perpetrators of war crimes committed in Ukraine has doubled. Prosecutor Karim Khan announced arrest warrants against two Russian military commanders, General Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash and Admiral Viktor...
Ukraine Symposium – Legal Reflections on the Russia-Ukraine Prisoner Exchange
In early January, Russia and Ukraine announced the largest prisoner exchange since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Mediated by the United Arab Emirates, the exchange reportedly included the release of 248 Russian military personnel by...
Ukraine Symposium – Retaliatory Warfare and International Humanitarian Law
On 29 December, Russia launched a massive country-wide drone and missile assault on Ukraine. Although Ukraine shot down 114 of the 158 inbound missiles, over 40 Ukrainian civilians died in the attacks, and more than 160 were wounded. In addition to military...
Ukraine Symposium – Mine Clearance Operations in the Black Sea
In an Articles of War post earlier this year, Ben Rothchild and Mark Jessup addressed the under-appreciated challenges—operational, navigational, and legal—posed by the relatively extensive mine-laying operations carried out in the Black Sea as a component of the...
Ukraine Symposium – Territorial Acquisition and Armed Conflict
Soon after the outbreak of its international armed conflict with Ukraine in 2014, Russia annexed Crimea. Eight years later, it also annexed territory around the four Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. In each case, the annexations, which...
The Intelligence Community, Atrocities, and Accountability
(Editor’s note: This article is part of a joint symposium hosted by Just Security and Articles of War. The symposium addresses topics discussed at a workshop held at The George Washington University Law School concerning U.S. cooperation with the International...
Al Hassan Symposium – “Islam Itself Is Not on Trial”: Culture and Religion in Al Hassan
Editor’s note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Law and Articles of War blogs. This symposium addresses the pending ICC Al Hassan judgment. Katharine Fortin, Sean Watts, and Diletta Marchesi’s introductory post is...
Al Hassan Symposium – Understanding Rebel (Dis)Order in Al Hassan
Editor’s note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Law and Articles of War blogs. This symposium addresses the pending ICC Al Hassan judgment. Katharine Fortin, Sean Watts, and Diletta Marchesi’s introductory post is...
Al Hassan Symposium – Rebel Governance under the Spotlight: the ICC Al Hassan Case
Editor’s note: This post is part of a joint symposium hosted by the Armed Groups and International Law and Articles of War blogs. This symposium addresses the pending ICC Al Hassan judgment. Katharine Fortin, Sean Watts, and Diletta Marchesi’s introductory post is...
Al Hassan Symposium – Petite Sardine or Big Fish? Rebel Governance and the ICC Al Hassan Trial
On 25 May, the Defence finished their closing statements in the Al Hassan case at the International Criminal Court (ICC). The case relates to acts committed during the nine months of 2012 and 2013 that Ansar Dine and Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AD/AQMI)...
Ukraine Symposium – Transfers of POWs to Third States
Introduction On 9 June 2023, media reported that Hungary received eleven Ukrainian Prisoners of War (POWs) from Russia. More than a week later, Reuters reported that three of these persons had been repatriated to Ukraine. The exact circumstances of how the group of...
The United States Should Ratify the Rome Statute
(Editor’s note: This article is part of a joint symposium hosted by Just Security and Articles of War. The symposium addresses topics discussed at a workshop held at The George Washington University Law School concerning U.S. cooperation with the International...
Reducing the Human Cost of Large-Scale Military Operations
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...
Ukraine Symposium – Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam: Disproportionate and Prohibited
Introduction On Tuesday, June 6, 2023, the Kakhovka hydroelectric dam was destroyed causing a major humanitarian and environmental disaster. This post analyses the question of whether this destruction complied with the rules of international humanitarian law (IHL). In...
U.S.-ICC Symposium – U.S. Cooperation with the ICC to Investigate and Prosecute Atrocities in Ukraine: Possibilities and Challenges
(Editor’s note: This article provides an overview of a joint symposium hosted by Just Security and Articles of War. The symposium addresses topics discussed at a workshop held at The George Washington University Law School concerning U.S. cooperation with the...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Detention Operations in LSCOs: a U.S. Military Perspective
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Counterterrorism Thinking and “Large-Scale Combat Operations”
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Legal Considerations Before and During LSCOs
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Detention in Non-International Armed Conflict
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Protection of the Environment During an Occupation
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Environmental Protection in the Context of LSCOs
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed during an expert workshop that the Lieber Institute co-convened alongside Harvard Law School’s Program on International Law and Armed Conflict and the International Committee of the Red Cross, focusing...
Large-Scale Combat Operations Symposium – Introduction
Editor’s note: The views expressed in this post are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the ICRC, HLS PILAC, or other workshop participants. Large-scale combat operations (LSCOs) involve widespread, devastating violence, usually on a vast scale. They...
Ukraine Symposium – Accountability for Cyber War Crimes
In our digitally connected and technology-dependent world, cyber-attacks on critical infrastructure such as electric power grids, water treatment facilities, and industrial control systems have far-reaching safety and security consequences. When these attacks are...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Make War Sharp Again?
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. Francis Lieber...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Islamic Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. Many people...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – The Eastern Native North American “Laws of War”
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. The Clash of...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – East African Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. In our chapter...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Indigenous Australian Laws of War
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. Australia is...
Ukraine Symposium – The Legality of Depleted Uranium Shells and Their Transfer to Ukraine
The decision by the United Kingdom (UK) in March 2023 to transfer depleted uranium tank shells to Ukraine provoked a fierce reaction from senior Russian political and military officials. President Vladimir Putin warned that Moscow would “respond accordingly, given...
Ukraine Symposium – A Path Forward for Food Security in Armed Conflict
Climate change, the economic crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic, and armed conflicts throughout the world have aggravated the global food crisis (see e.g., here, p. 6-7 and here). Regarding specifically the latter, in 2018, the UN Security Council issued...
Ukraine Symposium – Russia’s “Re-Education” Camps: Grave Violations Against Children in Armed Conflict
On March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian president Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. The warrants allege that Putin...
Ukraine Symposium – Landmines and the War in Ukraine
Human Rights Watch has documented the use of both anti-vehicle and anti-personnel landmines in Ukraine. Following reports that Ukraine is using anti-personnel landmines (APLs) in violation of the Ottawa Convention, the Ukrainian authorities acknowledged this...
Responsible AI Symposium – Prioritizing Humanitarian AI as part of “Responsible AI”
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at an expert workshop conducted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy focusing on Responsible AI. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Tobias Vestner’s and Professor Sean...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Reading the Lieber Code as Strategic Lawfare
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. A book launch...
Ukraine Symposium – “Damn the Torpedoes!”: Naval Mines in the Black Sea
For over a century the immortal battle cry of Rear Admiral Farragut has sounded throughout naval lore – “Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead.” As it turns out, what Admiral Farragut was damning are what we would today refer to as naval contact mines. Since that era,...
Ukraine Symposium – The Law of Crowdsourced War: Democratized Supply Chains – Part II
In the first of this two-part post addressing the legal and practical implications of democratized supply chains, I focused on the individual risks that those who engage in these activities incur. I explored whether their actions can amount to direct participation in...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Dharma and Ancient Indian Military Laws in the Mahābhārata
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter that appears in Samuel White’s edited volumes Laws of Yesterday’s Wars published with Brill. For a general introduction to the series, see Samuel White and Professor Sean Watts’s introductory post. A book launch...
Laws of Yesterday’s Wars Symposium – Introduction
There is a mythology, easily rebuffed, that the laws of war started with the Lieber Code. While General Orders No. 100 guided and shaped the modern law of armed conflict (LOAC) or international humanitarian law (IHL), the regulation and legal mitigation of the horrors...
Lieber Studies POW Volume Symposium – Protecting POWs in Contemporary Conflicts
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter of the Lieber Studies volume Prisoners of War in Contemporary Conflict, which was published 3 March 2023. For a general introduction to this volume, see Professor Mike Schmitt and Major Christopher J....
Ukraine Symposium – Seizure of Russian State Assets: State Immunity and Countermeasures
On 24 February 2023, the United Kingdom (UK) government objected to the Seizure of Russian State Assets and Support for Ukraine Bill in the House of Commons, proposed legislation that would require the government to put measures in place to seize frozen Russian State...
Ukraine Symposium – The Law of Belligerent Occupation
The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has raised important and timely issues regarding the application, implementation, and enforcement of the law of armed conflict. Particularly relevant, is the law of occupation. Unfortunately, this discrete subset of the law of armed...
Ukraine Symposium – Reprisals in International Humanitarian Law
The scale and scope of international humanitarian law (IHL) violations by Russian and associated forces during the conflict in Ukraine are staggering. Yet, Russia has justified some of its operations as retaliatory responses to alleged Ukrainian misdeeds. For...
Lieber Studies POW Volume Symposium – Application of the Third Geneva Convention in Proxy Warfare
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter of the Lieber Studies volume Prisoners of War in Contemporary Conflict, which will be published 3 March 2023. For a general introduction to this volume, see Professor Mike Schmitt and Major Christopher J....
Ukraine Symposium – The Law of Crowdsourced War: Democratized Supply Chains – Part I
“Infantry wins battles, logistics wins wars.” General Pershing’s oft cited maxim of warfare is once again proving itself out in Ukraine. Thankfully, from the outset of Russia’s ill-conceived war of aggression, its progress has been hampered by poorly maintained...
Lieber Studies POW Volume Symposium – “Accompanying the Force” in Modern Armed Conflict
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter of the Lieber Studies volume Prisoners of War in Contemporary Conflict, which will be published 3 March 2023. For a general introduction to this volume, see Professor Mike Schmitt and Major Christopher J....
Lieber Studies POW Volume Symposium – Parole: The Past, Present, and Future
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a chapter of the Lieber Studies volume Prisoners of War in Contemporary Conflict, which will be published 3 March 2023. For a general introduction to this volume, see Professor Mike Schmitt and Major Christopher J....
Ukraine One Year On – Defying the Odds
On 24 February 2023, one year has passed since Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The past year has been filled with acts of aggression, war crimes, and continued atrocities. International humanitarian law (IHL) is one of the most profound and...
Ukraine Symposium – The Wagner Group: Status and Accountability
Since Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the Wagner Group has come out of the shadows. Used by the Kremlin as an alternative fighting force since 2014, the private military company (PMC) now operates with a much greater degree of...
Lieber Studies POW Volume Symposium – Military Assimilation and the Third Geneva Convention
Editor's note: The following post highlights a chapter of the Lieber Studies volume Prisoners of War in Contemporary Conflict, which will be published 3 March 2023. For a general introduction to this volume, see Professor Mike Schmitt and Major Christopher J....
Lieber Studies POW Volume Symposium – Prisoners of War in Contemporary Conflict
Following the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) launch of its updated Commentary on the 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, West Point’s Lieber Institute on Law and Warfare intended to convene an expert-driven workshop...
![Prosecuting War Crimes Symposium – Justice for Victims of [Some] War Crimes Act?](https://lieber.westpoint.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/pexels-D°DDµNN-NNNND½D°N-11734709.jpg?w=400&h=250&crop=1)
Prosecuting War Crimes Symposium – Justice for Victims of [Some] War Crimes Act?
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at a Lieber Institute expert workshop focusing on Prosecuting War Crimes. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Professor Sean Watts and Jennifer Maddocks’s introductory post. Recent years...
Ukraine Symposium – Field-Modified Weapons under the Law of War
Combatants in armed conflict may choose to modify weapons in the field for a variety of reasons. They may modify them to improve their reliability. They may alter them to increase their range or accuracy. Or they may adapt them to novel purposes. During the...
Prosecuting War Crimes Symposium – German Domestic Prosecutorial Experience
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at a Lieber Institute expert workshop focusing on Prosecuting War Crimes. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Professor Sean Watts and Jennifer Maddocks’s introductory post. The...
Ukraine Symposium – The Legal and Practical Challenges of Surrendering to Drones
As part of the Articles of War “Year Ahead” series published earlier this year, Board of Advisor member Professor Gary Solis predicted that several legal issues pertaining to the law of armed conflict (LOAC) will likely see significant development soon, including...
Prosecuting War Crimes Symposium – Evidentiary Challenges
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at a Lieber Institute expert workshop focusing on Prosecuting War Crimes. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Professor Sean Watts and Jennifer Maddocks’s introductory post. The Commission...
Prosecuting War Crimes Symposium – Introduction
Last fall, with the generous support of the 15th Dean of the Academic Board, Brigadier General Shane Reeves, the Lieber Institute for Law and Warfare at West Point partnered with the U.S. State Department Office of Global Criminal Justice and the United States...
Ukraine Symposium – A Wagner Group Fighter in Norway
In the early hours of Friday, January 13th, the alarm went off in a military border guard base in northern Norway. Someone had illegally crossed the border with Russia, and Norwegian conscripts were tasked to find the person. The intruder turned out to be a former...
Ukraine Symposium – The Impact of Sanctions on Humanitarian Aid
The war in Ukraine highlights how humanitarian need and restrictive trade measures typically emerge simultaneously in times of conflict—and how the latter can interfere with the ability of humanitarian organizations to provide principled humanitarian assistance. This...
Ukraine Symposium – Ukraine’s “Suicide Drone Boats” and International Law
Editors’ Note: As part of our 2023 Year Ahead series, our Board of Advisors member Prof. Dr. Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg presciently identified legal issues concerning maritime drones as a subject to watch this year. It did not take long for the field to respond. Our...
Ukraine Symposium – What’s in a Name? Getting it Right for the Naval “Drone” Attack on Sevastopol
Editors’ Note: As part of our 2023 Year Ahead series, our Board of Advisors member Prof. Dr. Wolff Heintschel von Heinegg presciently identified legal issues concerning maritime drones as a subject to watch this year. It did not take long for the field to respond. Our...
Ukraine Symposium – UN Peacekeepers and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has been under Russian control since March 2022. The international community has repeatedly called for a resolution to a situation that could result in a nuclear disaster because the plant is regularly damaged by shelling. In...
Ukraine Symposium – The “I Want to Live” Project and Technologically-Enabled Surrender
In their ongoing armed conflict, the Russian Federation and Ukraine have engaged in sustained information campaigns using leaflets, social media posts, radio appeals, text messages, and television spots to provoke surrenders. Further leveraging modern communications...
Year in Review – 2022
2022 has been an unprecedented year for the law of armed conflict (LOAC) and for Articles of War. The full-scale international armed conflict that Russia has been waging against Ukraine since 24 February has spawned multiple LOAC issues. Meanwhile, Russia’s flagrant...
Responsible AI Symposium – Responsible AI and Legal Review of Weapons
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at an expert workshop conducted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy focusing on Responsible AI. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Tobias Vestner’s and Professor Sean...
Responsible AI Symposium – The AI Ethics Principle of Responsibility and LOAC
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at an expert workshop conducted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy focusing on Responsible AI. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Tobias Vestner’s and Professor Sean...
Ukraine Symposium – The THeMIS Bounty Part II: Stealing Enemy Technology
In Part I of this post, we considered whether the seizure of the Tracked Hybrid Modular Infantry System (THeMIS) by Russian troops on the battlefield of Ukraine, acting on a bounty issued by Russia’s Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), could be...
Ukraine Symposium – Classification of the Conflict(s)
The threshold questions in any international humanitarian law (IHL) analysis are whether an armed conflict is underway as a matter of law and, if so, what type. They are determinative questions because the existence of an armed conflict is a condition precedent to...
Ukraine Symposium – The THeMIS Bounty Part I: Seizure of Enemy Property
Modern technological advances play a critical role on the battlefield. They increase the efficiency and lethality of attacks, enhance situational awareness, protect friendly forces, and increase the chance of survival for victims of war. Recently, Azerbaijan received...
Ukraine Symposium – Russia’s Allegations of U.S. Biological Warfare in Ukraine – Part II
Part 1 of this post presented the factual dispute regarding Russian allegations of U.S. and Ukrainian collaboration on the development of biological weapons. It also reviewed the rules, obligations, and rights under the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention and indicated...
Responsible AI Symposium – Legal Implications of Bias Mitigation
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at an expert workshop conducted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy focusing on Responsible AI. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Tobias Vestner’s and Professor Sean...
Ukraine Symposium – Russia’s Allegations of U.S. Biological Warfare in Ukraine – Part I
During its invasion of Ukraine, Russia has accused the United States and Ukraine of collaborating to develop biological weapons in violation of international law. Russia’s claims led to a “formal consultative meeting” in Geneva pursuant to Article V of the Biological...
Responsible AI Symposium – Implications of Emergent Behavior for Ethical AI Principles for Defense
Editor’s note: The following post highlights a subject addressed at an expert workshop conducted by the Geneva Centre for Security Policy focusing on Responsible AI. For a general introduction to this symposium, see Tobias Vestner’s and Professor Sean...
