In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Use of Force

07 Jan

[Nikolas M. Rajkovic is Chair of International Law at Tilburg University, and Senior Faculty at the Institute for Global Law and Policy of Harvard Law School (nikolasrajkovic.com). His research examines how international law is being reshaped by geopolitical, infrastructural, digital, and ecological transformations, drawing on interdisciplinary work across international law, international relations, and critical geography. He is the author of...

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06 Jan

[Milena Sterio is James A. Thomas Distinguished Professor of Law at Cleveland State University College of Law and Managing Director of the Public International Law and Policy Group] The United States’ attack on Venezuela, as well as the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, have no justification in international law or international relations. This post will first discuss...

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18 Dec

[Dr Chiara Redaelli is a research fellow at the University of Geneva, IHL and ICL expert with the International Development Law Organization Ukraine Office and co-editor in chief of the on the Use of Force and International Law] From Drug Boats to Battlefields? The United States’ Classification of the “War on Drugs” In September 2025, the Trump administration began describing U.S. counter-narcotics...

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18 Dec

[Dr Chiara Redaelli is a research fellow at the University of Geneva, IHL and ICL expert with the International Development Law Organization Ukraine Office and co-editor in chief of the on the Use of Force and International Law] From Drug Boats to Battlefields? The United States’ Case for Using Force against Cartels Since early September 2025, the United States has carried out...

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14 Dec

[Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University School of Law, an Executive Board Member of Airwars, and the Managing Editor of Opinio Juris.] In a New York Times essay published last week, Jeh Johnson, General Counsel of the Department of Defense in President Barack Obama’s first term and Director of Homeland Security in his second, seeks...

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26 Sep

[Winona Xu teaches international law and reproductive health at UCLA] Introduction As of September 15, 2025, eight weeks after Israel’s Operation Rising Lion (June 13) and the U.S. companion strikes (Operation Midnight Hammer, June 21–22) on Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, the immediate legal question has fused with an acute non‑proliferation and nuclear‑safety crisis. The IAEA still cannot verify the fate of Iran’s...

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08 Aug

[Ananya Bhargava (she/her) is a law student at Jindal Global Law School] Introduction Historically in situations of war, international law has maintained fidelity to a strictly parochial understanding of what constitutes “use of force.”  This understanding adheres to the normative belief that “use of force” solely includes armed force. Any deviation from this belief would invariably lead to the unsettling of definite...

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25 Jul

[Masoud Zamani is a lecturer in International Law and International Relations at the University of British Columbia, Canada.  Amir Abbas Kiani is a collaborating researcher in International Law at Shiraz University, Iran.] The recurring exchange of lethal force and military operations between Iran and Israel gives rise to several urgent and complex legal questions within the framework of jus ad bellum. A particularly intriguing...

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11 Jul

On June 25, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CoE) and the President of Ukraine signed an agreement to create a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (STCoA). The tribunal, which will be based on Ukraine's territorial jurisdiction but will have a number of international elements -- and is thus properly categorised as a hybrid...

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08 Apr

On April 4, a group of five states -- Costa Rica, Germany, Sierra Leone, Slovenia and Vanuatu -- formally submitted to the UN Secretary-General the text of a proposed amendment to the Rome Statute. The amendment seeks to harmonise the ICC's jurisdiction over the crime of aggression with the jurisdictional regime that applies to the other crimes. It would do...

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