Accountability
Lessons for Legal Advisors from the Brereton Report
International humanitarian law practitioners and scholars have justifiably dedicated attention to the recent report of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) Inspector General into allegations of violations of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) in Afghanistan, known as the...
The Duty to Investigate War Crimes
On November 19, 2020, a report of the Australian Defence Force’s Inspector-General was released following a four-year investigation into allegations of unlawful killings and mistreatment of non-combatants and persons hors-de-combat in Afghanistan (also known as...
Mercenaries on the Battlefield: What Legal Advisors Must Know
Mercenaries … are useless and dangerous. And if a prince holds on to his state by means of mercenary armies, he will never be stable or secure… -- Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince Mercenaries have been used since the dawn of war. In recent years, however, there has...
Military Considerations and the Ntaganda “Attack” Question
This post concludes our series featuring the International Criminal Court’s recent hearings on the legal notion of “attack.” As co-editors-in-chief, we wish to extend our sincere gratitude to our contributors. As scholars of the law of war, we wish to add a few...
The Unintended Consequences of International Court Decisions
In response to a prosecution appeal in the case of The Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently considering the meaning of “attack” under the Rome Statute. The Court’s decision, however, could have consequences that...
“Attacks” against Hospitals and Cultural Property: Broad in Time, Broad in Substance
On behalf of the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG), we recently filed an amicus curiae brief with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the appellate case of Bosco Ntaganda. In this post, we will briefly discuss the main arguments we raised...
Motive and Control in Defining Attacks
In the appellate case of The Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda, the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court asked for briefs from “qualified publicists with the requisite expertise, who are interested in submitting observations on” the definition of “attack” as...
The Definition of an “Attack” under the Law of Armed Conflict
As in any branch of international law, examining the meaning of a law of armed conflict (LOAC) term, and its incorporation in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, should look first to the treaties—and “attack” is no different. Indeed, as is well...
A Radical Reimagining of the Concept of “Attack”
The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) filed its Appeals Brief In the Case of the Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda on 7 October 2019, almost precisely a year prior to the time of this writing. The Prosecution argument attempts to expand the war crime found in the Rome...
Symposium Intro: The ICC Considers the Definition of “Attack”
The Ntaganda case—currently pending before the International Criminal Court (ICC) Appeals Chamber—raises an issue of importance to both the law of war (international humanitarian law) community and those working in international criminal law. How should the meaning of...
The Efficacy of the U.S. Army’s Law of War Training Program
On July 2, 2020, the Department of Defense reissued DoD Directive 2311.01, the DoD Law of War Program.* Under the previous Directive, issued in 2006, Secretaries of the Military Departments were required to “[i]mplement programs in their respective Military...
Imagining Justice for Syria
The situation in Syria poses an acute—some might say existential—challenge to the international community’s commitment to justice and accountability. The conflict has been so destructive, the crime base so massive, the pool of potential defendants so...