In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Use of Force

09 Apr

[Joseph A. Manoba is a Ugandan lawyer and Co-Counsel with Francisco Cox in the representation of victims in the case of the Prosecutor Versus Dominic Ongwen.] The Ongwen case is in many respects a significant milestone for justice and accountability for the victims of the atrocities in northern Uganda. Dominic Ongwen is the only one of  five commanders of the Lord’s...

|
03 Apr

[Dr. Lauren Sanders is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland and a legal practitioner. She served in the Australian Army for several decades as a Signals Officer and Legal Officer.  This article represents the author’s personal views and does not reflect those of the Australian Defence Force or Australian Government.] Many States and regional and international organisations have espoused...

|
03 Apr

[Dr Guangyu Qiao-Franco is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at Radboud University and a Senior Researcher of the ERC funded AutoNorms Project at the University of Southern Denmark. ] [Mahmoud Javadi serves as an AI Governance Researcher at Erasmus University Rotterdam in The Netherlands. In this capacity, he plays a role in an EU-funded research consortium titled ‘Reignite Multilateralism via...

and |
02 Apr

[Tsvetelina van Benthem is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, lecturer in international law for the Oxford University Diplomatic Studies Programme and senior legal adviser at The Reckoning Project. She is a member of the core team of the Oxford Process on International Law Protections in Cyberspace, and regularly advises states and...

|
01 Apr

[Lieutenant General John (Jack) N.T. Shanahan retired from the United States Air Force in 2020 after a 36-year military career. In his final assignment he served as the inaugural Director of the U.S. Department of Defense Joint Artificial Center. As the first Director of the Algorithmic Warfare Cross-Functional Team (Project Maven), he established and led DoD’s pathfinder AI fielding program...

|
01 Apr

[Lena Trabucco is a visiting research fellow at the Stockton Center for International Law at the US Naval War College and a fellow in the Technology, Law & Security program at American University Washington College of Law.] [Magda Pacholska is a Marie Sklodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellow at the Asser Institute (The Hague), and a research fellow with the Tech, Law & Security...

and |
14 Mar

[Elke Schwarz is a Reader and Senior Lecturer in Political Theory at Queen Mary University London.] The scale of violence and destruction in Gaza is difficult to fathom; the sheer existential terror the civilian population experiences is unspeakable. First the shockingly high daily death toll on account of the military campaign, now the unfolding famine which affects children and the more...

|
04 Mar

[Jeroen van den Boogaard is a legal counsel for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a lecturer in international humanitarian law at the University of Amsterdam. He writes this post in his personal capacity.] In the coming weeks, Opinio Juris will host a symposium on “Responsible Military AI and the Law of Armed Conflict.” The purpose of the symposium is...

|
15 Feb

[Johanna Trittenbach is a PhD Candidate at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University.  Jessica Dorsey is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Utrecht University and Otto Spijkers is a Lecturer of International Law at Amsterdam and Leiden University College (AUC and LUC).] Introduction On 12 February 2024, the Court of Appeal in The Hague ordered the Netherlands...

, and |
18 Oct

In a world where powerful states are becoming more brazen in their impunity, it is crucial to give voice to those who resist. Along with nearly 800 lawyers, scholars, and practitioners, representing a diverse range of perspectives from academia and practice, I have signed a statement warning of the possibility of genocide in Gaza, Palestine. This open letter underscores the...

|
17 Oct

Introduction  In March 2022, I wrote a piece for Opinio Juris in which I described the international legal community as a “visible college.” Playing on Schachter’s concept of an “invisible college” of international lawyers “dispersed throughout the world” (p 217) but united in their faith in the law’s pacifying and transformative potential, my piece celebrated international lawyers’ willingness to engage with...

|