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U.S. Naval War College

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Full-Text Articles in International Humanitarian Law

Armed Conflict-Related Detention Of Particularly Vulnerable Persons: Challenges And Possibilities, Sandesh Sivakumaran May 2018

Armed Conflict-Related Detention Of Particularly Vulnerable Persons: Challenges And Possibilities, Sandesh Sivakumaran

International Law Studies

Persons detained for reasons related to an armed conflict are in a vulnerable position. Deprived of their liberty, they are at the mercy of their captors. Certain groups of detainees are particularly vulnerable. Additionally, the way in which non-international armed conflicts are fought can make it difficult for some parties to the conflict to comply with the rules benefiting particularly vulnerable detainees. This Article identifies groups of particularly vulnerable detainees and analyzes the general and special protections that are afforded to them under the conventional and customary international law of armed conflict. It then considers the realities of detention in …

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Silent War: Applicability Of The Jus In Bello To Military Space Operations, Kubo Mačák Feb 2018

Silent War: Applicability Of The Jus In Bello To Military Space Operations, Kubo Mačák

International Law Studies

There are no molecules of air that could carry sound waves in the vacuum of outer space. Accordingly, space warfare may well become the first type of war whose signature sound would be—silence. But does the law of armed conflict (jus in bello) fall silent in times of Silent War? This article addresses the uncertainty at the heart of this issue. First, it delineates the relevant conceptual framework by examining the factual notion of “military space operations,” and its relationship with the legal concept of “armed conflict,” as well as the overlap between the potentially applicable bodies of …

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The Future Of U.S. Detention Under International Law: Workshop Report, International Committee Of The Red Cross (Icrc), Harvard Law School Program On International Law And Armed Conflict (Hls Pilac), Stockton Center For The Study Of International Law (U.S. Naval War College) Jun 2017

The Future Of U.S. Detention Under International Law: Workshop Report, International Committee Of The Red Cross (Icrc), Harvard Law School Program On International Law And Armed Conflict (Hls Pilac), Stockton Center For The Study Of International Law (U.S. Naval War College)

International Law Studies

The International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Delegation for the United States and Canada, the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, and the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College recently hosted a workshop titled Global Battlefields: The Future of U.S. Detention under International Law. The workshop was designed to facilitate discussion on international law issues pertaining to U.S. detention practices and policies in armed conflict. Workshop participants included members of government, legal experts, practitioners and scholars from a variety of countries. This report attempts to capture the …

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Fragmented Wars: Multi-Territorial Military Operations Against Armed Groups, Noam Lubell May 2017

Fragmented Wars: Multi-Territorial Military Operations Against Armed Groups, Noam Lubell

International Law Studies

Recent years have seen the emergence of significant legal debate surrounding the use of force against armed groups located in other States. With time, it has become clear that in many cases such operations are not confined to the territory of one other State, but expand to encompass multiple territories and often more than one armed group. This article examines multi-territorial conflicts with armed groups through the lens of several legal frameworks. Among other topics, it analyses the questions surrounding the extension of self-defense into multiple territories, the classification of the hostilities with the group and between involved States, the …

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Space Weapons And The Law, Bill Boothby May 2017

Space Weapons And The Law, Bill Boothby

International Law Studies

Outer space is of vital importance for numerous civilian and military functions in the modern world. The idea of a space weapon involves something used, intended or designed for employment in, to or from outer space to cause injury or damage to the enemy during an armed conflict. Non-injurious, non-damaging space activities that adversely affect enemy military operations or capacity, though not involving the use of weapons, will nevertheless be methods of warfare. Article III of the Outer Space Treaty makes it clear that international law, including weapons law, applies in outer space. Accordingly, the superfluous injury/unnecessary suffering and indiscriminate …

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The Updated Commentary On The First Geneva Convention – A New Tool For Generating Respect For International Humanitarian Law, Lindsey Cameron, Bruno Demeyere, Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Eve La Haye, Heike Niebergall-Lackner Mar 2017

The Updated Commentary On The First Geneva Convention – A New Tool For Generating Respect For International Humanitarian Law, Lindsey Cameron, Bruno Demeyere, Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Eve La Haye, Heike Niebergall-Lackner

International Law Studies

Since their publication in the 1950s and the 1980s respectively, the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have become a major reference for the application and interpretation of these treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations. The work on the first updated Commentary, the Commentary on the First Geneva Convention relating to the protection of the wounded and sick in the armed forces, has already been finalized. This article provides …

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A Human Rights Perspective To Global Battlefield Detention: Time To Reconsider Indefinite Detention, Yuval Shany Mar 2017

A Human Rights Perspective To Global Battlefield Detention: Time To Reconsider Indefinite Detention, Yuval Shany

International Law Studies

This article discusses one principal challenge to detention without trial of suspected international terrorists—the international human rights law (IHRL) norm requiring the introduction of an upper limit on the duration of security detention in order to render it not indefinite in length. Part One of this article describes the “hardline” position on security detention, adopted by the United States in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks (followed, with certain variations, by other countries, including the United Kingdom and the State of Israel), according to which international terrorism suspects can be deprived of their liberty without trial for the …

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The Limits Of Inviolability: The Parameters For Protection Of United Nations Facilities During Armed Conflict, Laurie R. Blank Mar 2017

The Limits Of Inviolability: The Parameters For Protection Of United Nations Facilities During Armed Conflict, Laurie R. Blank

International Law Studies

This article examines the international legal protections for United Nations humanitarian assistance and other civilian facilities during armed conflict, including under general international law, setting forth the immunities of the United Nations, and the law of armed conflict (LOAC), the relevant legal framework during wartime. Recent conflicts highlight three primary issues: (1) collateral damage to UN facilities as a consequence of strikes on military objectives nearby and military operations in the immediate vicinity; (2) the misuse of UN facilities for military purposes; and (3) direct attacks on fighters, weapons or other equipment that cause damage to such facilities. To identify …

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Detention By Armed Groups Under International Law, Andrew Clapham Feb 2017

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.

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Chemical Weapons And Other Atrocities: Contrasting Responses To The Syrian Crisis, Tim Mccormack Dec 2016

Chemical Weapons And Other Atrocities: Contrasting Responses To The Syrian Crisis, Tim Mccormack

International Law Studies

Why has the use of chemical weapons in Syria engendered such a substantive multilateral response in stark contrast to almost every other egregious international law violation perpetrated against the civilian population? Various theories have been offered but the explanation has little to do with humanitarian concerns for Syrian victims and is more readily explicable by unusual (in the Syrian context) alignment of U.S. and Russian national interests. Bashar al-Assad was convinced to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention, to surrender his stockpiles of chemical weapons and to co-operate with international investigators deployed under UN Security Council auspices amid a cacophony …

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Arbitrary Withholding Of Consent To Humanitarian Relief Operations In Armed Conflict, Dapo Akande, Emanuela-Chiara Gillard Nov 2016

Arbitrary Withholding Of Consent To Humanitarian Relief Operations In Armed Conflict, Dapo Akande, Emanuela-Chiara Gillard

International Law Studies

This article examines the requirement under international humanitarian law (IHL) that consent to humanitarian relief operations must not be arbitrarily withheld. It begins with a brief outline of the rules of IHL regulating humanitarian assistance in armed conflict. The article then considers the origin of the rule prohibiting arbitrary withholding of consent to humanitarian relief operations before proceeding to set out the circumstances when consent will be considered to have been withheld arbitrarily under international law. It proposes three tests for arbitrariness in this context, and also examines how international human rights regulates humanitarian assistance in armed conflict.

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Soldier 2.0: Military Human Enhancement And International Law, Heather A. Harrison Dinniss, Jann K. Kleffner Nov 2016

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 …

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Partners And Legal Pitfalls, Brian Finucane Oct 2016

Partners And Legal Pitfalls, Brian Finucane

International Law Studies

Partnered military operations are an increasingly prominent feature of armed conflict and one which presents a distinct set of legal challenges to States assisting partners. This is particularly true of the war in Syria which is characterized both by States working with and through other States and non-State actors and by the widespread violation of the law of armed conflict (LOAC) by many of the parties. This article considers the legal implications of LOAC violations by a party to the conflict for the State or States providing it assistance and identifies risk mitigation measures that assisting States can adopt.

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Classifying The Conflict In Syria, Terry D. Gill Aug 2016

Classifying The Conflict In Syria, Terry D. Gill

International Law Studies

This article examines the classification of the current armed conflict in Syria under international humanitarian law. The article first sets out the factual background identifying the principal parties and their alignments and motivations. It then proceeds to examine the question of classification of conflict under international humanitarian law and discusses the contentious issue of the effect of lack of consent by the government of a State in relation to foreign intervention in an ongoing non-international armed conflict when such intervention is directed against one or more armed groups operating from within that State’s territory. It then proceeds to apply these …

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Syria: Can International Law Cope? Workshop Report, Christopher M. Ford Jun 2016

Syria: Can International Law Cope? Workshop Report, Christopher M. Ford

International Law Studies

The Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College and the Center for the Rule of Law at the U.S. Military Academy convened a three-day workshop in November 2015. The workshop sought to examine the question posed by its title: Can International Law Cope with the Situation in Syria? It is a question that has ramifications for the viability of international law well beyond the confines of events in Syria. This report surveys the key issues that were raised during the workshop and serves as an introduction to the articles that follow in this …

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Mapping War Crimes In Syria, Beth Van Schaak Jun 2016

Mapping War Crimes In Syria, Beth Van Schaak

International Law Studies

This article maps the range of war crimes being committed in Syria with reference to the applicable treaty and customary international law and prospects for prosecution. It begins by presenting the international legal framework employed to determine when an armed conflict began in Syria, how this conflict is classified under international law and which multilateral treaties and customary rules are operative. This framework underlies the determination of which war crimes can be prosecuted, which tribunals might have jurisdiction and which perpetrators may be made subject to indictment. The article next focuses on some open legal and factual issues around certain …

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Japan’S 2015 Security Legislation: Challenges To Its Implementation Under International Law, Hitoshi Nasu Jun 2016

Japan’S 2015 Security Legislation: Challenges To Its Implementation Under International Law, Hitoshi Nasu

International Law Studies

Japan’s new security legislation, enacted on September 30, 2015 amid fierce debate over its constitutionality, is designed to enable a “seamless response” to any security situation that may arise. While public debate has been fixated on the re-interpretation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, which underpins the theoretical foundation of this new legislation, there are also important international law issues that need to be addressed. After briefly reviewing the historical background leading to the adoption of the new security legislation and its contents, this article examines how the Self-Defense Force (SDF) can respond with the use of force to …

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Foreign Terrorist Fighters In Syria: Challenges Of The “Sending” State, Marten Zwanenburg Apr 2016

Foreign Terrorist Fighters In Syria: Challenges Of The “Sending” State, Marten Zwanenburg

International Law Studies

This article discusses domestic measures taken by the Netherlands to combat the phenomenon of foreign terrorist fighters, predominantly in the context of the Syrian conflict. It discusses criminal prosecution, asset freezes, deprivation of nationality and revocation of travel documents. The author concludes that in each of these fields, there is a close relationship between international law and national law.

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The Dod Law Of War Manual And Its Critics: Some Observations, Charles J. Dunlap Jr. Jan 2016

The Dod Law Of War Manual And Its Critics: Some Observations, Charles J. Dunlap Jr.

International Law Studies

The U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) new Law of War Manual has generated serious debate about its treatment of a variety of issues including human shields, the status of journalists, cyber operations, the precautions to be taken prior to attacks and even the role of honor in war. Although this article does not purport to be a comprehensive response to every critique of the Manual and, indeed, cites opportunities for its improvement, it nevertheless concludes that on balance the Manual provides an excellent, comprehensive and much-needed statement of DoD’s view of the lex lata of the law of war.

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The Combatant’S Stance: Autonomous Weapons On The Battlefield, Jens David Ohlin Jan 2016

The Combatant’S Stance: Autonomous Weapons On The Battlefield, Jens David Ohlin

International Law Studies

Do Autonomous Weapon Systems (AWS) qualify as moral or rational agents? This paper argues that combatants on the battlefield are required by the demands of behavior interpretation to approach a sophisticated AWS with the “Combatant’s Stance”—the ascription of mental states required to understand the system’s strategic behavior on the battlefield. However, the fact that an AWS must be engaged with the combatant’s stance does not entail that other persons are relieved of criminal or moral responsibility for war crimes committed by autonomous weapons. This article argues that military commanders can and should be held responsible for perpetrating war crimes through …

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Regulation-Tolerant Weapons, Regulation-Resistant Weapons And The Law Of War, Sean Watts Aug 2015

Regulation-Tolerant Weapons, Regulation-Resistant Weapons And The Law Of War, Sean Watts

International Law Studies

The historical record of international weapons law reveals both regulation-tolerant weapons and regulation-resistant weapons, identifiable by a number of criteria, including effectiveness, novelty, deployment, medical compatibility, disruptiveness and notoriety. This article identifies these criteria both to explain and inform existing weapons law, and also to facilitate efforts to identify weapons and emerging technology that may prove susceptible to future law of war regulation. By charting both the history and methodology of weapons law with a view toward identifying forces and influences that have made some weapons susceptible to international regulation and made others resistant, this article offers a starting point …

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Emerging Technologies And Loac Signaling, Eric Talbot Jensen Aug 2015

Emerging Technologies And Loac Signaling, Eric Talbot Jensen

International Law Studies

As States seek to weaponize new technologies such as robotics, cyber tools and nanotechnology, the current law of armed conflict (LOAC) that guides the employment of existing weapons will signal rules and principles that should guide national decisions on what new technologies to weaponize and how to do so in a way that ensures compliance with battlefield regulation. LOAC has served this "signaling" function historically with respect to innovative weapon systems such as balloons, submarines, airplanes, and nuclear weapons, and will continue to do so as nations look forward to potentially weaponizing emerging technologies.

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Nanotechnology And The Future Of The Law Of Weaponry, Hitoshi Nasu Jul 2015

Nanotechnology And The Future Of The Law Of Weaponry, Hitoshi Nasu

International Law Studies

Novel applications of nanotechnology for military purposes are expected to have a transformative impact on the way in which wars can be fought in the future battlespace, with the potential to drive changes to the law of weaponry. This article considers the potential of military applications of nanotechnology to bring changes to the existing principles and rules of weapons law. It specifically focuses on the likelihood that more sophisticated, miniaturized and tailored weapons and weapon systems will be produced that enable mechanical precision of targeting with no or few civilian casualties.

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The Law Of Naval Warfare And China’S Maritime Militia, James Kraska, Michael Monti Jul 2015

The Law Of Naval Warfare And China’S Maritime Militia, James Kraska, Michael Monti

International Law Studies

China operates a vast network of fishing vessels that form a maritime militia equipped and trained to conduct intelligence, communications, and targeting support for the People's Liberation Army Navy. Fishing vessels normally are exempt from capture or attack in the law of naval warfare unless they are integrated into the naval forces, but distinguishing between legitimate fishing vessels and maritime militia during naval warfare is virtually impossible.

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Russia’S Annexation Of Crimea: The Mills Of International Law Grind Slowly But They Do Grind, Robin Geiss Jun 2015

Russia’S Annexation Of Crimea: The Mills Of International Law Grind Slowly But They Do Grind, Robin Geiss

International Law Studies

In her speech at the Munich Security Conference in February 2015, Chancellor Angela Merkel unwaveringly said: “Europe’s borders are and will remain unalterable.” At the same time, however, most observers agree that Crimea will remain de facto under Russian control. Against this backdrop the article assesses the contemporary and possible future legal status of Crimea. Particular attention is given to the inseparability of the link between Russia’s unlawful use of force and the purported territorial status alteration of Crimea, the concept of remedial secession and Crimea’s current status as an occupied territory.

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Applying The European Convention On Human Rights To The Use Of Physical Force: Al-Saadoon, David S. Goddard Jun 2015

Applying The European Convention On Human Rights To The Use Of Physical Force: Al-Saadoon, David S. Goddard

International Law Studies

In Al-Saadoon and Others v. Secretary of State for Defence, the High Court of Justice of England and Wales has found that the United Kingdom’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) can be activated extraterritorially simply through the use by State agents of physical force against an individual. This article explains the judgment and places it in the context of the development of the law both in the United Kingdom and at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). While it remains subject to appeal domestically and its approach may not be followed by the ECtHR, …

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The Combatant Status Of The “Little Green Men” And Other Participants In The Ukraine Conflict, Shane R. Reeves, David Wallace Jun 2015

The Combatant Status Of The “Little Green Men” And Other Participants In The Ukraine Conflict, Shane R. Reeves, David Wallace

International Law Studies

As an occupation and a civil war are simultaneously taking place in Ukraine a particularly vexing international law question is presented: what is the legal status of those involved in the hostilities? This article is designed to answer that question and to identify the associated rights, duties and responsibilities of the participants in the conflict.

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Conflict Classification In Ukraine: The Return Of The “Proxy War”?, Robert Heinsch May 2015

Conflict Classification In Ukraine: The Return Of The “Proxy War”?, Robert Heinsch

International Law Studies

The article examines the exact conditions for classifying an armed conflict under international humanitarian law against the backdrop of the crisis in Ukraine, taking into account the difficult factual situation on the ground and the involvement of the different parties to the conflict. Apart from dealing with the requirements of an international or a non-international armed conflict, it looks again into the specific circumstances for the “internationalization” of an internal armed conflict. In doing so, the author revisits the various approaches found in the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice in its 1986 Nicaragua and 2007 Genocide judgments, as …

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Regulating Hostilities In Non-International Armed Conflicts: Thoughts On Bridging The Divide Between The Tadić Aspiration And Conflict Realities, Geoffrey S. Corn May 2015

Regulating Hostilities In Non-International Armed Conflicts: Thoughts On Bridging The Divide Between The Tadić Aspiration And Conflict Realities, Geoffrey S. Corn

International Law Studies

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) evolved to strike a rational balance between the necessity of using combat power to defeat enemy opponents, and the humanitarian interest of mitigating the human suffering resulting from armed conflict. Ironically, however, the “type” of conflict most comprehensively regulated by this law—international or inter-State (IACs)—is not the “type” of armed conflict that has been most notable for producing humanitarian suffering since the end of World War II. Instead, non-international armed conflicts (NIACs)—conflicts between States and organized non-State belligerent groups, or even between multiple non-State belligerent groups—have been notorious for their brutality, indifference towards humanitarian restraint, and …

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Law, Rhetoric, Strategy: Russia And Self-Determination Before And After Crimea, Christopher J. Borgen May 2015

Law, Rhetoric, Strategy: Russia And Self-Determination Before And After Crimea, Christopher J. Borgen

International Law Studies

The article considers how and why Russia has used international legal arguments concerning self-determination in relation to its intervention in Ukraine. Of what use is legal rhetoric in the midst of politico-military conflict? The article reviews the laws of self-determination and territorial integrity and considers Russia’s changing arguments concerning these concepts over the cases of Kosovo, South Ossetia, and Ukraine. Inasmuch as international law is the vocabulary and the grammar of modern diplomacy, States may use legal rhetoric with multiple audiences in mind. While the shifts in Russia’s arguments may be due to strategic needs in specific conflicts, the legal …

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