Targeting
U.S. Strike Cells: Dispelling the Myths
Last August, in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the world witnessed a disastrous incident in Kabul when ten Afghan civilians, including up to seven children, were killed by a U.S. drone strike meant for ISIS. It was a truly tragic event, without...
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...
Ukraine Symposium – Lawful Use of Nuclear Weapons
The February invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces was followed by an even graver threat to global peace as the Kremlin announced President Vladimir Putin’s order to raise Russia’s nuclear forces into a higher state of alert. Reportedly, Putin’s order enhances his...
Ukraine Symposium – Cultural Property Protection in the Ukraine Conflict
Cultural heritage is once again in the crosshairs of an invading army. The Ukrainians, while concentrating on defending their homeland and their people, have nonetheless dedicated considerable efforts to the protection of cultural property, both movable and unmovable....
Ukraine Symposium – Unprecedented Environmental Risks
Environmental damage in armed conflict is generally caused in four ways: (1) the conduct of hostilities, i.e., the use of means and methods of warfare (weapons and tactics); (2) natural resource extraction and exploitation; (3) the military environmental footprint in...
Ukraine Symposium – Weaponizing Civilians: Human Shields in Ukraine
Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has become a horrific demonstration of the many ways a State can violate international humanitarian law (IHL) and how individual soldiers and their commanders can commit war crimes. To counter condemnation of its...
Hunter 2-S Swarming Attack Drones: Legal & Ethical Dimensions
Halcon, a defense company based in the United Arab Emirates, unveiled its aerial fleet of swarming drones—Hunter 2-S—at the Unmanned System Exhibition and Conference in Abu Dhabi on February 21, 2022. The small-sized Hunter 2-S modular launching system is the latest...
Weaponizing Food
The conflict in Ukraine is threatening the world’s food system. For instance, Ukraine and Russia supply around 30% of global wheat and barley exports. And over 40% of Ukrainian wheat export goes to Africa, where food shortages are endemic. In a March 25 update, the UN...
Status of Foreign Fighters in the Ukrainian Legion
Among other new resistance groups, Ukraine has formed an International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine (UKR Legion). There are reports that its members come from all over the world, including Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European...
The Attack at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant and Additional Protocol I
On March 4th, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced a report by Ukrainian authorities that Russian forces had attacked the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeast Ukraine. Russia denied this characterization. The IAEA reported that a building...
Levée en Masse in Ukraine: Applications, Implications, and Open Questions
On February 24, 2022, facing an existential threat, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree ordering a general mobilization to defend Ukraine against a Russian invasion. Posted on the presidential website, the decree intended "to ensure the defence of the state”...
The Fog of War, Civilian Resistance, and the Soft Underbelly of Unprivileged Belligerency
All across Ukraine, ordinary citizens have been cornered into making a truly Draconian, but necessary choice: whether or not to take up arms and actively participate in defending Ukraine from Russia’s invasion—a mass escalation of the illegal war which started in...