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Ukraine Symposium – Is the Law of Neutrality Dead?
The 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict has rekindled the debate about the validity of qualified neutrality during an international armed conflict. The concept is sometimes also referred to as benevolent neutrality. Since Russia’s invasion this year, nearly 40 nations,...
Ukraine Symposium – Neutral State Access to Ukraine’s Food Exports
On May 14, the G7 group of industrialized nations met to devise a plan to ensure the export of Ukrainian grain to avert a global hunger crisis. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has created cascading effects on the region and the world, not least is the impact on food...
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 – Are We at War?
Last week, allegations that the United States and a number of other NATO nations are providing intelligence to Ukraine that enables attacks against Russian forces continued to surface. Broadly speaking, the reports of intelligence sharing are credible. As Chairman of...
Lieber Institute White Paper: Responding to Malicious or Hostile Actions under International Law
Recent consultations with senior legal advisers have highlighted the need for a clear map of response options available to States facing hostile or malicious actions, whether attributable to another State or a non-State actor. After all, to respond effectively to such...
Ukraine Symposium – The Montreux Convention and Turkey’s Impact on Black Sea Operations
Weeks into Russia’s military campaign into Ukraine, the role homeported Black Sea maritime forces are playing is well documented. Reuters recently published a story in which the Russian Defense Minister confirmed that Russia struck Ukraine with Kalibr cruise missiles...
New Edition of The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations
The Stockton Center for International Law (SCIL), U.S. Naval War College (NWC), recently completed a 2-year effort, in coordination with the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Coast Guard, to update The Commander’s Handbook on the Law of Naval Operations (NWP...
Ukraine Symposium – Cyber Neutrality, Cyber Recruitment, and Cyber Assistance to Ukraine
The war between Russia and Ukraine has given rise to many challenging international humanitarian law (IHL) questions. In this post I will focus on its cyber dimension and consider how certain customary law obligations imposed on belligerents and neutrals under the law...
Ukraine Symposium – Maritime Neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Most of the reporting and commentary regarding the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has so far focused on the land domain of warfare. However, there are significant maritime legal aspects to the conflict. An earlier post in this symposium briefly touched on...
Putin and Xi’s Pact for Outer Space
On the eve of the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a joint statement on entering a new era of international relations—including in outer space. The February 4 statement enunciated the importance of...
A No-Fly Zone over Ukraine and International Law
In an impassioned address to the U.S. Congress on March 16, Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, asked the United States for additional military assistance, including the establishment of a no-fly zone. This is a terror that Europe has not seen, has not seen for...
Displacement from Conflict: Old Realities, New Protections?
Globally, conflicts are the main source of both internal and cross-border displacement. The conflict prompted by Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine, which is a considerable escalation from the original incursion in 2014, has already caused the largest external...