Accountability
Ukraine Symposium – The Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group & Ukrainian Prosecutions of Russian POWs – Part 2
A prior post recounted the recent trial and guilty plea by Russian Army Sergeant Shishimarin in Ukraine. That post identified a number of important substantive and procedural legal considerations from those proceedings. This post provides similar attention to a...
Ukraine Symposium – The Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group & Ukrainian Prosecutions of Russian POWs – Part 1
On 25 May 2022, the European Union, the United States, and the United Kingdom announced the establishment of the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group for Ukraine (ACA). According to the announcement, “[t]he overarching mission of the ACA is to support the War Crimes Units...
Ukraine Symposium – Effects-Based Enforcement of Targeting Law
The international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine tragically demonstrates that the European continent is still not immune from war. It also illustrates that the laws of war are only as effective as the leadership and discipline that guides military forces...
Foreign Fighters: The Terrorism/IHL Conundrum and the Need for Cumulative Prosecution
The attack launched by ISIS on 20 January 2022 against the Al-Sina’a Prison in Al-Hasakah, an area situated in North-Eastern Syria and currently under the authority of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, with the intention of freeing ISIS fighters held there,...
Ukraine Symposium – Building Momentum: Next Steps towards Justice for Ukraine
[Author's Note: I am a member of the Legal Task Force on Accountability for Crimes Committed in Ukraine, alongside Amal Clooney and other international lawyers and academics. I am writing in my own capacity.] *** On 27 April, 63 days after the Russian invasion, the UN...
Ukraine Symposium – Litigating Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine
Since the commencement of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the end of February, different international courts and tribunals have been engaged as means to invoke international responsibility for the various violations of international law that have occurred. As is...
Ukraine Symposium – Comprehensive Justice and Accountability in Ukraine
As the war between Russia and Ukraine enters its second month there are increasing allegations of serious law of armed conflict (LOAC) violations. The allegations, amplified by graphic images and videos which are sometimes even narrated by purported witnesses, have...
Ukraine Symposium – Results of a First Enquiry into Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Ukraine
On 3 March 2022 the Moscow Mechanism of the human dimension of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) was invoked by Ukraine supported by 45 participating States. This mechanism mandated a mission of experts, undertaken by Professor Wolfgang...
Ukraine Symposium – War Crimes against Children
For the 452 million children living in conflict zones (1 in 6 globally), the effects of conflict are multiple, wide-ranging, and devastating. With an increase in asymmetric warfare globally, children are targets of horrific acts of violence, including killing,...
Ukraine Symposium – A War Crimes Primer on the Ukraine-Russia Conflict
More than a month into the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, allegations of war crimes have proliferated from media, advocacy groups, international organizations, and even States. Meanwhile, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has initiated an...
The Siren Song of Universal Jurisdiction: A Cautionary Note
In the face of the humanitarian crises and government abuses in the Syrian Civil War, the German Office of the Federal Prosecutor General initiated prosecution against a number of Syrian officials for a range of crimes including murder, rape, and arbitrary detention....
Command Responsibility and the Ukraine Conflict
The news on the conflict in Ukraine is replete with violations of international humanitarian law (IHL), conveying the impression that soldiers have either been ordered to commit these crimes or have been allowed to do so (or a combination thereof). In the latter case,...