In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Humanitarian Law

11 Jul

[Alessandra Spadaro works as Assistant Professor in Public International Law at Utrecht University. She is conducting a three-year project titled “Business in and for war: the role and limits of international humanitarian law”, which is funded by the Dutch Research Council.] In a recent post on this blog, my colleague Jérôme de Hemptinne calls on (Western) international lawyers to engage with...

|
11 Jul

[Anna-Christina Schmidl is a legal advisor and Eitan Diamond is a manager and senior legal expert, both in the Israel & Palestine team with the IHL Centre] Introduction The smashed city stretched to the frozen river. International law prohibited the targeting of medical facilities, which explained why, in a city where eighty percent of freestanding structures had been flattened, the hospital still...

and |
30 Jun

[Quinten DeGroote is an LL.M. Candidate in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at the Geneva Academy. He also holds a Bachelors and Masters degrees in law from the KU Leuven.] Introduction  The Ukraine-Russia war has highlighted the growing role of modern technology in contemporary warfare. A notable example is civilian intelligence apps, such as e-Enemy, a feature within Ukraine’s Diia e-governance...

|
23 Jun

[Dr Sarah Zarmsky is a Lecturer (Assistant Professor) at Queen’s University Belfast School of Law] Thank you to Professor Kevin Jon Heller for his helpful comments on an earlier version of this post. Introduction Yesterday, the Associated Press (AP) reported that a confidential report had been submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) which argues that the Russia-linked Wagner Group has committed international...

|
26 May

[Natasha Yvonne Barigye is an International Justice Fellow at Amnesty International and a lawyer specialising in international criminal law. Melissa Hendrickse is a Legal Advisor at Amnesty International, specialising in racial justice and international criminal law.  Vito Todeschini is a Legal Advisor at Amnesty International, where he advises on international humanitarian law, international criminal law and international human rights law.] Introduction In the last...

, and |
14 May

[Neve Gordon is a professor at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences and the former Chair of the British Society of Middle Eastern Studies’ Committee on Academic Freedom. He is the author of Israel’s Occupation (University of California Press 2008) and co-author of The Human Right to Dominate (Oxford University Press, 2015), Human Shields:...

and |
14 May

[Neve Gordon is a professor at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London, a Fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences and the former Chair of the British Society of Middle Eastern Studies’ Committee on Academic Freedom. He is the author of Israel’s Occupation (University of California Press 2008) and co-author of The Human Right to Dominate (Oxford University Press, 2015), Human...

and |
06 May

[Image by Freepik.] Introduction It is widely acknowledged that, without regulation, Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) can contribute to violations of international law and benefit from impunity. Both corporate actors and States increasingly rely on PMSCs to secure their operations in high-risk areas—whether through direct contracts, in-house security arrangements, or outsourcing military and law enforcement functions. Numerous UN reports have documented...

|
06 May

[Klaudia Klonowska is a PhD Researcher at the Asser Institute and the University of Amsterdam, and is serving as Managing Director of the Manual on the International Law Applicable to Artificial Intelligence in Warfare. Sofie van der Maarel is Assistant Professor in Military Ethics and Leadership at the Netherlands Defense Academy and affiliated to Radboud University Nijmegen.] Introduction The concept of “deep sensing”...

and |
17 Apr

[Laura van der Hoeven holds academic degrees in Public International Law and Business Administration. Her work focuses on the intersection of foreign relations and international law, with particular interest in security alliances, soft power diplomacy, and the application of international law to territorial disputes.] The ongoing conflict in the Gaza region has resulted in severe humanitarian and environmental losses. While international...

|
09 Apr

As I write these lines, the United States is fighting for the very soul of its democracy. Under dispute is whether their government can forcibly transfer a lawful resident – in this case a Latino with a tattoo – to a forced labour camp in El Salvador without any due process. For now, the US Supreme Court’s answer seems to be “no”, provided the...

|
08 Apr

[Ben Saul is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism] The Israeli human rights NGOs Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Hamoked recently reported that around 6,800 Palestinians are detained by Israel outside the regular criminal justice process. Approximately 3,436 are held as “unlawful combatants” captured in Gaza – although...

|