International Humanitarian Law Commons^™

Ai-Enabled Decision-Support Systems In The Joint Targeting Cycle: Legal Challenges, Risks, And The Human(E) Dimension, Jessica Dorsey, Marta Bo

International Law Studies

Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as well as ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Yemen, Iraq, and Syria include the reported military use of AI-enabled decision-support systems (AI-DSS) within the joint targeting cycle (JTC). These tools use AI techniques to collect and analyze data, provide information about the operational environment, and make actionable recommendations with the aim of aiding military decision-makers in evaluating factors relevant to legal compliance, such as taking precautions and ensuring proportionality in attacks. These systems are often touted as being simply a human aid and, as such, have flown largely under the radar regarding regulation as they are …

Blurring The Lines: A Reflection On The ‘Relaxation’ Of The Organization Requirement Of Article 7(2)(A) Of The Rome Statute Since The Situation In Kenya Decisions, Leonardo Helman

Human Rights Brief

International criminal liability for Crimes Against Humanity (CAH) was born during the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg to address the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime against civilians throughout the Third Reich. Since the post-World War II tribunals at Nuremberg and Tokyo, the definition of CAH has undergone several evolutionary stages to better reflect the circumstances in which atrocities have been committed. The ad hoc tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda substantially adjusted the definition of CAH to fit the context of these conflicts. However, this evolution of CAH in the ad hoc cases did not yield a definition applicable in …

Beyond Borders: Transnational Repression As A System Of Authoritarian Control In Russia, Kazakhstan, And Kyrgyzstan, Jasmine D. Cameron

Human Rights Brief

This Article examines transnational repression, state-sponsored persecution of citizens, human rights defenders, journalists, members of diaspora, and critical voices located outside physical borders, as a systemic tool of political control employed by Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Based on analysis of legislation, published reports, UN Special Rapporteur findings, and case files, this Article provides three case studies that demonstrate different stages of an escalating trend towards transnational repression systems. From Kyrgyzstan, where the government has started to develop and implement harmful practices to persecute its citizens abroad, to a more established system in Kazakhstan, where numerous incidents of transnational repression showed …

How The Sui Generis Principle Has Been Historically Abused In International Law: From The British To The Israelis, Ahmad Hamdan

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

For over a century, powerful actors have used a single Latin phrase, sui generis, as a shield to evade accountability under international law. Meaning “of its own kind,” this theory dictates that a situation is so unique that ordinary rules should not apply. In international law, sui generis typically refers to situations or entities that cannot easily be categorized under existing legal frameworks or conventions. Its use indicates that there is no directly applicable precedent and that, as a result, no legal principles apply; instead, the situation itself will set the precedent. While some researchers argue that …

Stability And Accountability In Nagorno-Karabakh And The Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict, Callum Heath

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

On August 8, 2025, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia were hosted at the White House by U.S. President Donald Trump to announce the Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter-State Relations (the Agreement) in a Joint Declaration. The Agreement sets out to end the decades-long conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over the Armenian ethnic enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh within Azerbaijan, and the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, which is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenia. While the White House hails the Agreement as a “historic peace deal,” the reality is more …

“Durable Solutions” Revisited: Italy’S Train-To-Hire Pathway Under The Cutro Decree As Alternative Refugee Protection, Tim Streit

Human Rights Brief

I. Introduction

If the average person were asked to imagine a refugee, they might conjure the image of a migrant fleeing war or persecution, showing up at the border of a new country with a few belongings in hand, and asking not to be sent back to the dangerous place from which they came. In fact, it is not only the hypothetical “average person” who pictures this scenario. The international refugee protection system, developed after World War II through the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (Refugee Convention) and its 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees …

Migration In Context And Law: Global Displacement And The U.S. Immigration System, Saya Khandar, Dominic Brunaccioni, Samantha Johnson, Nisa Manzar, Lindsey Nye, Alexis Stephens, Sherise Tracey

Human Rights Brief

On February 20, 2026, the Human Rights Brief at American University Washington College of Law (WCL) held its annual symposium, titled “Migration in Context and Law: Global Displacement and the U.S. Immigration System.” This symposium was curated in response to intensified immigration operations across the United States (U.S.), which have resulted in significant harm to individuals and families nationwide. The discussion centered on the humanity of immigration and explored how global displacement, armed conflict, economic instability, and climate change continue to shape migration. Organizers brought together legal scholars, practitioners, and advocates to examine current immigration policies in the context of …

The Lives Of Fritz Haber And Of International Law: Entwined Tales Of Tragedy And Irony, Mark A. Drumbl, C. William Vardy

Scholarly Articles

This article recounts the life of international law through the story of a single individual. This is the narrative of biographical international law. The subject — equally protagonist and antagonist — of this article is Fritz Haber, a German-Jewish scientist born in 1868. Devoted to the Kaiser, Haber was declared a war criminal by the Allies following World War I for having been ‘the father’ of chemical warfare. Haber argued that chemical weapons were more humane than conventional weapons. While under this shadow, Haber also won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1920 for his pioneering work with ammonia …

Enforcing International Humanitarian Law Through The Business Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Tara Van Ho

Faculty Articles

Insulation produced by the Danish company Rockwool—or its Russian subsidiary—lines thirty-one Russian Navy warships. Though not a weapon, this material is essential to the vessels’ operation. Did Rockwool have a responsibility under international law to stop the transfer of the insulation to the Russian Navy before Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine? This article examines the business responsibilities under the 2011 United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (“UNGPs”). In doing so, the article finds that the business responsibility to respect human rights in the UNGPs provides a strong mechanism for enforcing international humanitarian law (“IHL”). However, it requires …

Comparative Visions For U.S. Group-Based Asylum Proposal, Lauren N. Hughes

Scholarly Articles

Images of asylum seekers and migrants desperate to enter the United States at the southern border abound in U.S. media. Less familiar to the American public, but intertwined with the highly politicized modern migration crisis, is the ever-growing backlog of pending asylum applications before both the Asylum Office and Immigration Courts. This backlog has many causes, including underresourced agencies, a growing number of asylum applicants, the high evidentiary burden and complexities inherent to asylum law, and the lack of counsel for many asylum seekers. In response to this crippling backlog, some scholars propose the adoption of a “group-based” asylum mechanism. …

The Futility Of “Genocide” In Ending A Genocide, Shannon Fyfe

Scholarly Articles

After the horrors of World War II, the Genocide Convention of 1948 sought to invest the international community in creating legal obligations that “sovereign” states commit to preventing and punishing future genocides. Unfortunately, this has not succeeded. International legal jurisprudence pertaining to identifying and punishing genocide has developed at the International Court of Justice and at other international criminal courts and tribunals. Yet the invocation of the term “genocide” in public, academic, or legal discourse has generally failed to ensure the participation of the international community in stopping a genocide. The United States, for instance, has failed to play the …

The Internet At War: An Empirical And Legal Analysis Of Harmful Narratives On Social Media During Armed Conflict, Bailey Ulbricht, Allen Weiner

Michigan Technology Law Review

This Article empirically investigates the connection between harmful narratives on social media and violent acts perpetrated against persons protected under international humanitarian law (IHL) during armed conflict, and then examines the legal implications of such a relationship. First, examining comprehensive datasets from two inter-state armed conflicts (Russia-Ukraine and Armenia-Azerbaijan) as case studies, this Article documents patterns in Telegram data indicating that more violent acts are preceded by increases in harmful narratives than decreases in such content. This suggests that harmful narratives on social media platforms may plausibly contribute to the incidence of real-world violence committed against protected persons during armed …

The Reception Of International Human Rights Law In Charter Litigation: "Not A Box Of Chocolates" But You Still "Never Know What You're Gonna Get", Karinne Lantz

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This article explores the reception of international human rights law(IHRL)in Canada. Focusing on the Charter context, it demonstrates that how IHRL applies in Canada continues to lack clarity despite repeated (and recent) efforts by the Supreme Court of Canada to provide it. This article argues that this lack of clarity is an important matter for the Court to address, particularly as IHRL is increasingly being invoked before courts and other tribunals around the world. It argues that the Court should adopt a methodology that: (i) endorses the “Dickson Doctrine,”according to which the “minimum protection approach”is robustly applied for international human …

Cold Comfort: Japan’S “Comfort Women” Litigation Under Transnational Law, Timothy Webster

Faculty Scholarship

Transnational human rights litigation has emerged as a powerful tool to remediate state and corporate abuses. Courts, however, rarely evince the same enthusiasm for these lawsuits as practitioners, scholars, and activists. For the past thirty-five years, “comfort women,” or survivors of wartime sexual exploitation, have used transnational litigation to seek redress from the Japanese government. Yet they have lost nearly all their cases. This Article uses ten “comfort women” lawsuits from Japan to test the limits of transnational human rights litigation. While judges rarely found for the comfort women, their verdicts nonetheless advanced the redress issue by showing the illegality …

Escape Probability: Rethinking Wartime Protection Of Nuclear Facilities, Pearle M. Lipinski

Michigan Journal of International Law

The 2022 Russian attacks on the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia nuclear facilities in Ukraine shocked the international community. Claims that the attacks constituted war crimes immediately entered the public consciousness, and a flurry of opinions were set forth on the international humanitarian law (“IHL”) protections afforded to nuclear plants, focusing on Article 56 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions, which provides special protection to nuclear electrical generating stations. These opinions primarily focused on the immediate applicability and shortcomings of Article 56 on the attacks at hand, often operating on the presumption that a massively consequential environmental and humanitarian disaster …

Unsuccessful? Universal Human Rights And The United Nations: Russian Imperialism In Ukraine And The Post-Udhr International System, Sofiia Novytska

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Human universality has always stood as a controversial subject and remains politically contentious today. Following the humanitarian crisis of World War II, the international community was determined to protect the integrity and dignity of people worldwide by developing the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, universal human rights were not invented by the Declaration and were already conceptually established in global ancient thought, further evolved into Early Modern scholarship, and later paved the way for modern humanitarian frameworks. The UDHR was not universally well-received, and was criticized for its revolutionary legal character, postcolonial contestation, and practical ambiguity. The …

Leaning Into Absence: Lessons From Kony, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

This article begins with the confirmation of charges decisions undertaken by the International Criminal Court in the Kony case. These proceedings struggled with the reality of in absentia. This article addresses the high absentee rate among individuals against whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants and notes the stark presence of absence in the ICC’s work as well as within the enforcement of international criminal law at large. This article suggests that international criminal lawyers lean into the prevalence of absence and reboot predominant collective thinking. One path forward is to truly and warmly embrace transitional …

The Proportionality Trap: Why Death Tolls In War Need Not Add Up Equally, Thane Rosenbaum

Touro Law Review

Imagine a war without battlefields. There are no uniforms. Civilians and combatants are indistinguishable. Homes, schools, hospitals, and religious buildings are used as command and communication centers, and for the warehousing of weapons. Apartment rooftops are launching pads; the civilians who live inside . . . human shields. There are over 300 miles of reinforced tunnels, all outfitted with weapons and passageways for terrorists to take hostages and travel freely. Beyond Proportionality examines Israel’s battles against Hamas and Hezbollah under the laws of war and concludes that its war time conduct was based on military necessity and fought justly. The …

Cedaw's General Recommendation No. 37: A Sweeping Reconceptualization Of Women’S Rights In The Climate Crisis And A Tool To Assess State’S Compliance With Them, Ingrid Nifosi-Sutton

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

INTRODUCTION: Climate change is one of the most formidable challenges of our time that threatens our way of life and the very existence of humankind. While climate change has negative impacts on all persons, it affects women and girls disproportionately. During floods and severe storms fueled by climate change, for example, women are more likely to die than men because they lack access to essential information on how to survive in these emergencies. In certain regions of the world—such as Sub-Saharan Africa—women smallholder farmers are bearing the brunt of climate change because, in the aftermath of droughts, these women have …

Rightly Dividing Jus Ad Bellum And Jus In Bello In The Israel/Hamas War, Jeffrey F. Addicott

Pace International Law Review

No abstract provided.