Human Rights
Ukraine Symposium – Release of Chinese POWs in Ukraine
In early April, reports emerged indicating that Ukraine had captured two Chinese nationals who were fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. Additional reports shared by Ukraine's intelligence agencies identified nearly two hundred other Chinese nationals also...
Lieber Studies Series – Military Investigations
Editors’ note: This post is based on the author’s chapter in Civilian Protection in Armed Conflict: Select Issues (Jelena Pejic and Margaret Kotlik eds. 2025), the eleventh volume of the Lieber Studies Series published with Oxford University Press. Military...
Australian Compensation for War Crimes in Afghanistan: A Rights-Based Approach, Not Military Charity, is Needed
In July 2024, Australia adopted a new legal scheme to compensate victims of war crimes committed by the Australian Defence Force (ADF) in Afghanistan, which was deployed there from 2001 to 2021, including as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance...
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...
State Practice in Assassination: What is Old is New Again
In July 2024, CNN reported that American and German intelligence agencies had thwarted a Russian plan to kill Armin Papperger, the chief executive of Rheinmetall, a company known as “the largest and most successful German manufacturer of the vital 155mm artillery...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – A Rights-based Approach to Addressing Harm and Need in Armed Conflict?
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
War as a Non-State-Centric Concept of Contemporary International Law
Editors’ note: This post is drawn from the authors’ article-length work, “International Law’s Premature Farewell to the Concept of War” appearing in the Brazilian Journal of International Law. There is general consensus amongst practitioners and scholars that the...
Beyond Compliance Symposium – Compliance + Restraint Towards Full(er) Protection in War
Editors’ note: This post forms part of the Beyond Compliance Symposium: How to Prevent Harm and Need in Conflict, featured across Articles of War and Armed Groups and International Law. The introductory post can be found here. The symposium invites reflection on the...
Food Security Assessments and International Law
Food security remains an urgent and widespread global issue, with an estimated 281.6 million people in 59 countries or territories facing acute food insecurity in 2023. For nearly half of those people, conflict was the primary driver of their food insecurity. To...
Lessons Learned from the Latest Rendition Cases at the European Court of Human Rights
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) recently finalized its judgment against Lithuania in a case involving Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) detainees. The ECtHR ordered Lithuania to pay Mustafa Ahmed Adam al-Hawsawi 130,000 Euros as redress for violations of the European...
National Security Memorandum 20 and the Challenge of Operational End-Use Monitoring
Today, May 8, was the deadline for the Departments of Defense (DoD) and State to answer tough questions about how U.S. supplied weapons are being used in today’s conflicts, including those in Gaza and Ukraine. It appears that the delivery of their reports to Congress...
In Honor of Yoram Dinstein – Co-application of IHL and IHRL: Some Takeaways from the Ukraine and Gaza Wars
Editors’ note: This post is part of a series to honor Professor Yoram Dinstein, who passed away on Saturday February 10, 2024. These posts recognize Professor Dinstein’s work and the significant contribution his scholarship has made to our understanding of...