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Full-Text Articles in Law
Chemical Weapons And Other Atrocities: Contrasting Responses To The Syrian Crisis, Tim Mccormack
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 …
Arbitrary Withholding Of Consent To Humanitarian Relief Operations In Armed Conflict, Dapo Akande, Emanuela-Chiara Gillard
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.
Soldier 2.0: Military Human Enhancement And International Law, Heather A. Harrison Dinniss, Jann K. Kleffner
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 …
Syria: Can International Law Cope? Workshop Report, Christopher M. Ford
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 …
Mapping War Crimes In Syria, Beth Van Schaak
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 …
Foreign Terrorist Fighters In Syria: Challenges Of The “Sending” State, Marten Zwanenburg
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.
Off Target: Selection, Precaution, And Proportionality In The Dod Manual, Adil Ahmad Haque
Off Target: Selection, Precaution, And Proportionality In The Dod Manual, Adil Ahmad Haque
International Law Studies
The United States Department of Defense Law of War Manual misrepresents customary international law governing target selection, precautions in attack and proportionality. Contrary to the Manual’s assertions, attackers with a choice of targets for obtaining a similar military advantage must select the target that endangers the fewest civilians; often must avoid harming civilians even at some additional risk to themselves or to their mission; and must refrain from attack if the expected harm to civilians—including to civilians forced to serve as human shields—would be excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage.
The Combatant’S Stance: Autonomous Weapons On The Battlefield, Jens David Ohlin
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 …
Twenty Seconds To Comply: Autonomous Weapon Systems And The Recognition Of Surrender, Robert Sparrow
Twenty Seconds To Comply: Autonomous Weapon Systems And The Recognition Of Surrender, Robert Sparrow
International Law Studies
Would it be ethical to deploy autonomous weapon systems (AWS) if they were unable to reliably recognize when enemy forces had surrendered? I suggest that an inability to reliably recognize surrender would not prohibit the ethical deployment of AWS where there was a limited window of opportunity for targets to surrender between the launch of the AWS and its impact. However, the operations of AWS with a high degree of autonomy and/or long periods of time between release and impact are likely to remain controversial until they have the capacity to reliably recognize surrender.
Protecting Cultural Property In Non-International Armed Conflicts: Syria And Iraq, Louise Arimatsu, Mohbuba Choudhury
Protecting Cultural Property In Non-International Armed Conflicts: Syria And Iraq, Louise Arimatsu, Mohbuba Choudhury
International Law Studies
The deliberate destruction by ISIS of religious and cultural property in both Syria and Iraq sparked widespread international condemnation and was described by UNESCO’s Director-General as constituting war crimes. Regrettably, the damage to and destruction of such property has become an all too common feature of the conflicts that have engulfed both States. The authors examine the legal obligations that apply to the parties in non-international armed conflict and the consequences of non-compliance. In light of the scale of the human suffering engendered by the conflicts, the authors first ask why international law protects such property in armed conflict.
Applying The European Convention On Human Rights To The Use Of Physical Force: Al-Saadoon, David S. Goddard
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, …
Authorization Versus Regulation Of Detention In Non-International Armed Conflicts, Ryan Goodman
Authorization Versus Regulation Of Detention In Non-International Armed Conflicts, Ryan Goodman
International Law Studies
What does the law of armed conflict say about detention in non-international armed conflict? Is the law “utterly silent,” as some contend, with respect to the grounds for detention—regulating who may be confined and for what status or behavior? And do the in bello rules provide a source of affirmative authority that empowers belligerents to engage in detention? How those questions are resolved and, in particular, the basis for reaching the conclusions may have unintended consequences for the regulation of warfare. This article contends that the laws of war regulate the grounds for detention but do not authorize detention in …
Targeting And Detention In Non-International Armed Conflict: Serdar Mohammed And The Limits Of Human Rights Convergence, Aurel Sari, Sean Aughey
Targeting And Detention In Non-International Armed Conflict: Serdar Mohammed And The Limits Of Human Rights Convergence, Aurel Sari, Sean Aughey
International Law Studies
In recent years, the United Kingdom has seen a steady flow of legal challenges arising out of its involvement in the armed conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Among these, the case of Serdar Mohammed, decided by the English High Court in May 2014, is of particular interest because of its wider implications. In essence, the High Court’s judgment in Mohammed questions the existence of a legal basis under the law of armed conflict for the conduct of status-based operations in non-international armed conflicts. This article demonstrates that the restrictive approach adopted by the High Court in Mohammed is mistaken as …
Concluding Observations: The Influence Of The Conflict In Iraq On International Law, Yoram Dinstein
Concluding Observations: The Influence Of The Conflict In Iraq On International Law, Yoram Dinstein
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
The International Humanitarian Law Classification Of Armed Conflicts In Iraq Since 2003, David Turns
The International Humanitarian Law Classification Of Armed Conflicts In Iraq Since 2003, David Turns
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
The Dark Sides Of Convergence: A Pro-Civilian Critique Of The Extraterritorial Application Of Human Rights Law In Armed Conflict, Naz K. Modirzadeh
The Dark Sides Of Convergence: A Pro-Civilian Critique Of The Extraterritorial Application Of Human Rights Law In Armed Conflict, Naz K. Modirzadeh
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Counterinsurgency And Stability Operations: A New Approach To Legal Interpretation, Dale Stephens
Counterinsurgency And Stability Operations: A New Approach To Legal Interpretation, Dale Stephens
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Human Rights Obligations, Armed Conflict, And Afghanistan: Looking Back Before Looking Ahead, Stephen Pomper
Human Rights Obligations, Armed Conflict, And Afghanistan: Looking Back Before Looking Ahead, Stephen Pomper
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
The International Legal Framework For Stability Operations: When May International Forces Attack Or Detain Someone In Afghanistan?, Marco Sassoli
The International Legal Framework For Stability Operations: When May International Forces Attack Or Detain Someone In Afghanistan?, Marco Sassoli
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Distinction And Loss Of Civilian Protection In International Armed Conflicts, Yoram Dinstein
Distinction And Loss Of Civilian Protection In International Armed Conflicts, Yoram Dinstein
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Coaltion Operations: A Canadian Perspective, Kenneth W. Watkin
Coaltion Operations: A Canadian Perspective, Kenneth W. Watkin
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
The Treatment Of Detainees And The "Global War On Terror": Selected Legal Issues, David Turns
The Treatment Of Detainees And The "Global War On Terror": Selected Legal Issues, David Turns
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
The Law Of International Disaster Response: Overview And Ramifications For Military Actors, David Fisher
The Law Of International Disaster Response: Overview And Ramifications For Military Actors, David Fisher
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Full Volume 83: Global Legal Challenges: Command Of The Commons, Strategic Communications, And Natural Disasters
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Luncheon Address International Legal Public Diplomacy, John B. Bellinger Iii
Luncheon Address International Legal Public Diplomacy, John B. Bellinger Iii
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Chemical Agents And "Expanding" Bullets" Limited Law Enforcement Exceptions Or Unwarranted Handcuffs?, Kenneth Watkin
Chemical Agents And "Expanding" Bullets" Limited Law Enforcement Exceptions Or Unwarranted Handcuffs?, Kenneth Watkin
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Military Commissions - Kangaroo Courts?, Charles H.B. Garraway
Military Commissions - Kangaroo Courts?, Charles H.B. Garraway
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.
Full Volume 80: Issues In International Law And Military Operations
Full Volume 80: Issues In International Law And Military Operations
International Law Studies
No abstract provided.