Accountability
Hays Parks and the Doctrine of Command Responsibility
While he was a graduate student at the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s School in 1973, then-Major Hays Parks wrote a thesis titled “Command Responsibility for War Crimes” that was published in the Military Law Review. To say that this rather simply titled thesis...
Holding Autonomy to Account: Legal Standards for Autonomous Weapon Systems
The March 21 UN Panel of Experts on Libya report, citing the use of an autonomous armed drone by Turkish-backed Government of National Accord Affiliate Forces to attack retreating Hafter-Affiliated Forces in Libya, suggests the prospect of weapons with autonomous...
The Security Council Veto in Syria: Imagining a Way Out of Deadlock
Editor’s note: This post concludes the Articles of War Symposium on Beth Van Schaack’s book, Imagining Justice for Syria. The symposium offers a platform for the contributing experts to carry the conversation on justice and accountability in Syria forward. In...
“Water finds its way”? Universal Jurisdiction as an Avenue for Justice in Syria
Editor’s note: Germany’s recent charges against a Syrian doctor, Alaa M., bring renewed attention to universal jurisdiction cases around the Syrian conflict. Here, Alexandra Lily Kather highlights developments and challenges regarding cases brought under the principle...
The Impact of Military Justice Reform on Command Responsibility
Over the past decade, the prevalence of sexual assault faced by women in the United States armed forces has prompted Congress to enact a series of reforms to the military justice system. The overarching objective of these reforms has been to reduce the...
A Plea for True U.S. Leadership in International Criminal Justice
On April 1, 2021, the Biden administration revoked Executive Order 13928 that formed the legal basis under United States law for the Trump administration to impose financial sanctions against personnel of the International Criminal Court (ICC). These sanctions...
Russia, the Wagner Group, and the Issue of Attribution
Editor’s note: This week, the Modern War Institute and the Lieber Institute for Law and Land Warfare hosted a multi-disciplinary panel discussion on proxy warfare. Here, one of the panel participants, British Army Maj. Jennifer Maddocks, analyzes some of the legal...
Humanitarian Notification Systems & Intentional Attacks Against Hospitals
Editor’s note: The following post is part of the Articles of War Symposium on Beth Van Schaack’s book, Imagining Justice for Syria. The symposium offers a platform for the contributing experts to carry the conversation on justice and accountability in Syria forward....
Strengthening Atrocity Cases with Digital Open Source Investigations
Editor’s note: The following post is part of the Articles of War Symposium on Beth Van Schaack’s book, Imagining Justice for Syria. The symposium offers a platform for the contributing experts to carry the conversation on justice and accountability in Syria forward....
Beth van Schaack’s Imagining Justice for Syria
Editor's note: The following post introduces the upcoming Articles of War Symposium on Beth Van Schaack’s book, Imagining Justice for Syria. Ten years into the conflict, this symposium provides an opportunity to assess the state of justice and accountability that...
Experts Weigh in on Law of Armed Conflict Priorities
Presidential transitions present natural opportunities to reconsider national priorities. With the inauguration of a new administration, we asked our Lieber Senior Fellows and Lieber Distinguished Scholar what each considers to be the main law of armed conflict...
Reexamining the Law of War for Great Power Competition
The United States has shifted its national defense posture to focus on “the reemergence of long-term, strategic competition” with “revisionist powers”—namely China and Russia. The government is heavily engaged in framing the assumptions and expectations of what...