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Into The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death: War Crimes Committed In Service Of Russia's Crusade To Destroy Ukraine, Chris Galarza

American University National Security Law Brief

When Russian tanks rolled across the border into Ukraine during the early morning of February 24, 2022, most in the American defense and diplomatic establishment were shocked and sure the war would be over in a few days. Credible open-source tactical and strategic analysis predicted that Ukraine’s regular military forces would be defeated in “days or weeks” as long as Russian military forces were determined to pursue their objectives. The United States Government was so sure that Kyiv was under imminent threat of capture that they offered to evacuate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy so that he could rule from exile, rather …

A Double Standard In Refugee Response: Contrasting The Treatment Of Syrian Refugees With Ukrainian Refugees, Deanna Alsbeti

Human Rights Brief

The unrelenting proliferation of international crises marks the twenty-first century with mass global displacement. In 2011, the world witnessed the Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests that led to the Syrian Civil War and injected more than 13.5 million displaced Syrians into the global system. Today, twelve years later, the international system still struggles to accommodate and protect Syrians who cannot return to their homeland. In addition to the dire Syrian refugee crisis, and other refugee crises throughout the globe, the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine added approximately 7.5 million Ukrainian refugees to the world’s already stressed humanitarian system.

Hope Versus Reality: The Efficacy Of Using Us Military Aid To Improve Human Rights In Egypt, Gregory L. Aftandilian

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Using US military aid as a lever to achieve human rights reforms has proven only marginally effective. This article examines the approaches employed by the Obama and Trump administrations to US military aid to Egypt and proposes practical steps that can be taken by policymakers and the military personnel on the ground to advance US human rights values.

War Crimes, Inc.: The Ats Case Against The U.S. Weapons Industry For Aiding And Abetting Atrocities In Yemen, Elizabeth Beavers

Florida Journal of International Law

The U.S. weapons industry provides much of the weaponry necessary to facilitate mass indiscriminate bombings by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, many of which amount to war crimes. The stories referenced in this note represent just a few of the lives harmed in the course of the Yemen civil war. Yet despite consistent public reporting detailing the damage, and calls from the international community to halt sales, the flow of weapons from the United States remains seemingly endless yet accountability is in short supply. The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) provides an avenue for Yemeni survivors to seek redress in U.S. …

The Human Dimension Of Peace And Aggression, Chiara Redaelli

International Law Studies

Since the adoption of the Charter of the United Nations, the current international legal framework has drastically changed. In its traditional understanding, aggression is “the supreme international crime” aimed at protecting sovereignty and the territorial integrity of states. On the other hand, the U.N. Charter endorses an understanding of peace in the negative sense, that is, as mere absence of war. As human rights have gained momentum, they have helped reshape the legal landscape, a phenomenon referred to as the humanization of international law. How do peace and aggression fit within the humanized legal framework? This article will investigate the …

Leahy—Sharpening The Blade, Nandor F.R. Kiss

Pace International Law Review

Over the course of the last 20 years, the Leahy Law has become one of the cornerstones of foreign and human rights policy. Yet, despite its largely unchallenged importance, field practitioners and other stakeholders have identified a number of substantive and practical deficiencies that greatly diminish the law’s ability to achieve the desired effect, and worse, may pose a risk to the United States’ interests. In reflecting on these deficiencies, and armed with decades of data and anecdotal evidence, this Article proposes adjustments focused on better aligning the law’s intent and effect. These recommendations range from semantic edits to substantive …

Indeterminacy In The Law Of Armed Conflict, Adil Ahmad Haque

International Law Studies

Controversy and confusion pervade the law of armed conflict. Its most basic rules may seem ambiguous, vague, incomplete, or inconsistent. The prevailing view of customary international law confronts serious problems, in principle and in practice, when applied to the customary law of armed conflict. Legal indeterminacy, in its different forms, might be reduced or resolved in light of the object and purpose of the law of armed conflict, or by taking into account other relevant rules of international law. Unfortunately, the purpose of the law of armed conflict is itself the subject of deep disagreement. So is the relationship between …

Comparative Perspectives On Specialized Trials For Terrorism, Sudha Setty

Maine Law Review

President Obama has made clear that the United States must grapple with questions of how to detain and try potentially dangerous terrorism suspects in a manner that maximizes national security while adhering to the rule of law. Yet the United States faces a serious quandary in terms of how to prosecute suspects who have been detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, that puts at risk the reputation of the United States justice system and its adherence to rule of law. The question of what trial system to use for suspected terrorists requires an historical interrogation of how and to what effect …

Legal Status Of Drones Under Loac And International Law, Vivek Sehrawat

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

No abstract provided.

Detention By Armed Groups Under International Law, Andrew Clapham

International Law Studies

Does international law entitle armed groups to detain people? And what obligations are imposed on such non-state actors when they do detain? This article sets out suggested obligations for armed groups related to the right to challenge the basis for any detention and considers some related issues of fair trial and punishment. The last part of this article briefly considers the legal framework governing state responsibility and individual criminal responsibility for those that assist armed groups that detain people in ways that violate international law.

Soldier 2.0: Military Human Enhancement And International Law, Heather A. Harrison Dinniss, Jann K. Kleffner

International Law Studies

Advances in technologies that could endow humans with physical or mental abilities that go beyond the statistically normal level of functioning are occurring at an incredible pace. The use of these human enhancement technologies by the military, for instance in the spheres of biotechnology, cybernetics and prosthetics, raise a number of questions under the international legal frameworks governing military technology, namely the law of armed conflict and human rights law. The article examines these frameworks with a focus on weapons law, the law pertaining to the detention of and by “enhanced individuals,” the human rights of those individuals and their …

Toward Self-Determination - A Reappraisal As Reflected In The Declaration Of Friendly Relations, C. Don Johnson

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Sub-Saharan Africa: The Right Of Intervention In The Name Of Humanity, R. H. Payne

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Democracy's Struggle Against Terrorism: The Powers Of Military Commanders To Decide Upon The Demolition Of Houses, The Imposition Of Curfews, Blockades, Encirclements And The Declaration Of An Area As A Closed Military Area, Emanuel Gross

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Remaking The Pen Mightier Than The Sword: An Evaluation Of The Growing Need For The International Protection Of Journalists, Dylan Howard

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Regime In Need Of Balance: The Un Counter-­Terrorism Regimes Of Security And Human Rights, Isaac Kfir

University of Miami National Security & Armed Conflict Law Review

Since 9/11, the UN’s counter-­‐terrorism regime has developed two distinct approaches to combating international terrorism. The Security Council follows a traditional security doctrine that focuses on how to best protect states from the threat posed by international terrorists. This is largely due to the centrality of the state in Security Council thinking and attitudes. On the other hand, the General Assembly and the various UN human rights organs, influenced by the human security doctrine, have taken a more holistic, human rights-­‐based approach to the threat of international terrorism. This paper offers a review of how the dichotomy above affects the …

Implementing Truth And Reconciliation: Comparative Lessons For The Republic Of Korea, Tara J. Melish

Buffalo Human Rights Law Review

This Article substantively introduces a special symposium issue on "Implementing Truth and Reconciliation: Comparative Lessons for Korea." Inspired by the Dec. 2010 release of the official report and recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Republic of Korea (TRCK), the special issue gathers comparative national and cross-national lessons from four nations -- South Korea, South Africa, Cambodia, and Peru -- on the factors that contribute to or hinder the effective implementation of truth commission recommendations and other efforts aimed at achieving national, community, and individual-level reconciliation. Such lessons are offered in the hope of assisting victim groups and other advocacy …

The Contradiction Between Alien Tort Statute Jurisprudence And The Continued Immunity Of U.S. Officials For Acts Of Torture Committed Abroad, Jules Lobel

Maryland Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Litigating The Holocaust: A Consistent Theory In Tort For The Private Enforcement Of Human Rights Violations , Derek Brown

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Silent Partners: Private Forces, Mercenaries, And International Humanitarian Law In The 21st Century, Steven R. Kochheiser

University of Miami National Security & Armed Conflict Law Review

In response to gritty accounts of firefights involving private forces like Blackwater in Iraq and Afghanistan, many legal scholars have addressed the rising use of private forces——or mercenaries——in the 21st century under international law. Remarkably, only a few have attempted to understand why these forces are so objectionable. This is not a new problem. Historically, attempts to control private forces by bringing them under international law have been utterly ineffective, such as Article 47 of Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions. In Silent Partners, I propose utilizing the norm against mercenary use as a theoretical framework to understand at …

The Ferrini Doctrine: Abrogating State Immunity From Civil Suit For Jus Cogens Violations, Natasha Marusja Saputo

University of Miami National Security & Armed Conflict Law Review

Article 10 of the Italian Constitution incorporates generally recognized principles of international law. Thus, State immunity from civil suit in the domestic courts of another State——a principle generally recognized in international law——would apply in Italy. However, the protection of fundamental human rights is another generally recognized principle in international law and the ostensible conflict between these two principles has resulted in a series of controversial rulings issued by the Italian Court of Cassation. These rulings allow for the abrogation of State immunity from civil suit in the domestic courts of another State for alleged violations of jus cogens or peremptory …

From Retribution To Reconciliation, From Spoiler To Peace Envoy, Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Is there a tension between justice and peace? That debate I leave to my co-panelists, because the most interesting and important thing about this month's centerpiece, without a doubt, is not its well-judged (if slightly ill-informed) take on the ICC, but the name of the author at its end.

Justice Jackson's 1946 Nuremberg Reflections At Buffalo: An Introduction, Alfred S. Konefsky, Tara J. Melish

Buffalo Law Review

This Essay introduces the 2011 James McCormick Mitchell Lecture, “From Nuremberg to Buffalo: Justice Jackson’s Enduring Lessons of Morality and Law in a World at War,” a commemoration of Jackson’s 1946 centennial convocation speech at the University of Buffalo. It discusses Jackson’s speech, breaks down its thematic components, and situates the distinguished Mitchell Lecturers’ responses to it in context. Unlike Justice Jackson’s commanding and historic opening and closing statements as U.S. chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, Jackson’s 1946 speech, delivered just days after his return from Germany where he heard the Nuremberg Tribunal deliver its final judgment and verdicts, has largely …

The Gacaca Experiment: Rwanda's Restorative Dispute Resolution Response To The 1994 Genocide, Jessica Raper

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Since its rise to power in July of 1994, the Rwandan government has been committed to prosecuting all those accused of genocide. To prosecute the approximately 130,000 defendants, Rwanda has adopted a program called gacaca, based on Rwanda's traditional customary dispute resolution system. The gacaca law provides a reconciliation component that allows defendants to trade confessions of past genocide crimes for indemnification, as well as a prosecution component that holds the most serious offenders accountable in a Western style prosecution in a formal court of law. One of the main goals of gacaca is to end the so-called "culture …

April Roundtable: Responsibility To Protect And Human Rights Protection In The Ivory Coast, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Article under review: “The Case for Intervention in the Ivory Coast” by Corinne Dufka. Foreign Policy. March 25 2011.

A Rights-Based Approach To Global Injustice, Brooke Ackerly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Is reflection on global injustice part of the everyday lives of those who live in global privilege? Or does privilege let us wait to raise concerns about justice only when the media bring the graphic images of genocide and tragedy to our family rooms?

Pandora’S Box Of Humanitarian Intervention, Edzia Carvalho

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“The Case for Intervention in the Ivory Coast” reminded me of the discussion that my undergraduate students had during the previous academic term on the conundrums surrounding humanitarian intervention. They innately responded to the intense suffering of individuals and groups facing gross human rights violations and initially argued that inaction in the face of suffering cannot be justified on any grounds. However, with their international relations hats on, many of them soon realized that putting an end to such a state of affairs is not as easy or straightforward as they had hoped.

A Structural Solution To Africa’S Wayward Presidents, Devin K. Joshi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The current crisis in the Ivory Coast unfortunately resembles a number of crises in Western and Central Africa over the last few decades. Whereas the international community has generally been more willing to intervene in Europe and the Middle East, there has been a tendency to “wait and watch” while humanitarian crises unfold in middle Africa. In the last several years, as in the Ivory Coast right now, however, global awareness of the brutality of such crises has expanded tremendously.

Double Standards Demystified, Jonas Claes

Human Rights & Human Welfare

At the time Ms. Corinne Dufka’s op-Ed about the crisis in Côte D’Ivoire appeared, few would have predicted that three days later UN troops, with the support of the French military, would act forcefully to protect civilians and tip the balance in favor of the fighters loyal to Alassane Ouattara, eventually leading to the arrest of Laurent Gbagbo. The odds were not favoring this scenario.

We Do Indeed Reap What We Sow, Walter Lotze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

When violence first broke out in Tunisia in January 2011, few observers would have predicted that waves of unrest would engulf North Africa and the Arab world. When demonstrations swiftly spread to Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, and Jordan, observers hastened to place bets on which regime would be the next to fall. That Hosni Mubarak would be felled next came perhaps as no surprise; Egypt had for years been on a knife’s edge, liberalizing and modernizing society while closing all space for political and social participation. Most analysts then turned their attention to Sudan, Yemen, and Bahrain, predicting that …