Humanitarian Protection
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...
Attacks and Warnings in Urban Warfare
The media coverage of recent armed conflicts has brought to a wider audience the existential nature of urban warfare and its humanitarian costs. For some, the era of urban warfare has arrived. From an historical perspective, however, there is nothing new about...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – The Obligation to Allow and Facilitate Humanitarian Relief
Much has been written and said over the past few weeks on obligations relating to humanitarian supplies in the context of the Gaza conflict. Certain authors went straight to questions of the prohibition on (intentionally) starving the civilian population (e.g. here...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – What is and is not Human Shielding?
The use of human shields is looming large in the conflict between Israel and Hamas. President Biden has on numerous occasions charged Hamas with using civilians as human shields, as has European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The practice also took center...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – A Moment of Truth: International Humanitarian Law and the Gaza War
Hamas's horrendous October 7 attack on Israeli civilians and Israel's anticipated response pose a unique challenge to scholars and practitioners of the Law of Armed Conflict or International Humanitarian Law (IHL), possibly a challenge they have never faced before....
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – The Circle of Suffering and the Role of IHL
Great suffering is the cause and consequence of armed conflict. International humanitarian law (IHL) sets a minimum base line of humanity at times when tensions and emotions run at unbearably high levels. By finding a balance between military necessity and the...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – A “Complete Siege” of Gaza in accordance with International Humanitarian Law
The recent attacks committed by Hamas in Israel can only be described as abhorrent. The death toll of the ongoing escalation of violence has (as at the time of drafting surpassed 1,500 casualties, with thousands more injured. Additionally, Hamas fighters have abducted...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – The Evacuation of Northern Gaza: Practical and Legal Aspects
Late in the evening of October 12th, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began warning residents of Gaza to evacuate to the south in anticipation of large-scale IDF operations. The text of one of the warnings, posted on the IDF website, reads, The IDF calls for the...
Israel – Hamas 2023 Symposium – Siege Law and Military Necessity
It is no surprise that the debate over the legality of Israeli measures directed against Hamas is already gaining momentum. Public discussion has focused, at least for now, on Israeli Defense Minister Gallant’s declaration that, “no electricity, no food, no water, no...
The Evolving Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict – An International Law Perspective – Part II
Editors’ Note: In a prior post, the authors presented background material and jus ad bellum analysis of an ongoing situation between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the Nagorno-Karabakh region. In this post, they address jus in bello and other international legal issues...
2023 DoD Manual Revision – The Civilian Presumption Misnomer
(Editor’s note: This post is part of a series analyzing the 2023 revisions to the U.S. Department of Defense’s Law of War Manual.) The changes made to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) Law of War Manual published yesterday have given U.S. military lawyers and their...
Collateral Damage and Innocent Bystanders in War
This post is based on the author’s article in the Stanford Journal of International Law and is posted here with the permission of SJIL. It is generally accepted in moral philosophy that it is prohibited to knowingly kill an innocent bystander even when necessary to...