Legal Roundup – 12 September 2012

About the author(s):

Rogier Bartels

Rogier is a researcher at the Netherlands Defence Academy (NLDA) and works at the Dutch National Prosecutor’s Office. He holds LL.M-degrees from Utrecht University and the University of Nottingham. Before taking up his current positions, he was an associate legal officer in Chambers at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and a legal adviser at the International Humanitarian Law Division of the Netherlands Red Cross.

Rogier is an adjunct-lecturer at the Hague University of Applied Sciences, where he teaches international humanitarian law, and he co-convenes the Hague Initiative for Law and Armed Conflict.

Every few months, Katharine and I will compile a legal roundup of academic publications, legal developments and blog discussions on legal issues relating to armed groups and international law, which may be interesting for academics as well as and practitioners working in this field. Here is the first of these compilations:

Articles and books:

Drones and other transnational military operations

• – Colonel David A. Wallace, Operation Neptune’s Spear: The lawful killing of Osama Bin Laden, Israel Law Review, Vol 45(2),  367 – 377 (see also the discussion of the article here)
• – Kai Ambos and Josef Alkatout, Has ‘justice been done’? The legality of Bin Laden’s killing under international law, Israel Law Review, Vol 45(2), 341 – 366 (see also the discussion of the article here)
• – Michael W. Lewis, Drones and the Boundaries of the Battlefield, Texas International Law Journal, Volume 47(2) Spring 2012, 293-314
• – Robert P. Barnidge, Jr., A Qualified Defense Of American Drone Attacks In Northwest Pakistan Under International Humanitarian Law, Boston University International Law Journal, Vol. 30, 2012, 409-447

Targeting and detention

• – Amos N. Guiora, Determining a Legitimate Target: The Dilemma of the Decision-Maker, Texas International Law Journal, Volume 47(2) Spring 2012, 315-336
• – Karl S. Chang, Enemy Status and Military Detention: Neutrality Law and Non-International Armed Conflict, Municipal Neutrality, the U.N. Charter, and Hostile Intent, Texas International Law Journal, Volume 47(2) Spring 2012, 382-401
• – Peter Rowe, Is Their a Right to Detain Civilians by Foreign Armed Forces During a Non-International Armed Conflict, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, Vol 16(3) July 2012, 697-711
• – Monica Hakimi, A Functional Approach to Targeting and Detention, Michigan Law Review, Vol. 110, June 2012, 1365-1420
• – Laurie R. Blank, Complex Legal Frameworks and Complex Operational Challenges: Navigating the Applicable Law across the Continuum of Military Operations, Emory International Law Review, vol. 26(1) 2012, 87-135
• – The Law of Targeting, William H. Boothey, OxfordUniversity Press, 2012 http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Law/?view=usa&ci=9780199696611
• – Counter-Terrorism: International Law and Practice, edited by Ana María Salinas de Frías, Katja Samuel, and Nigel White, 2012
  http://ukcatalogue.oup.com/product/9780199608928.do#.T8tCds3ryKo

Classification of armed conflict and applicable law

• – Katie A. Johnston, Transformations of Conflict Status in Libya, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Vol. 17(1) 2012, 81–115
• – Michael Schmitt, Classification of Cyber Conflict, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Vol 17(2) 2012, 245-260
• – The Law of Non-International Armed Conflict, Sandesh Sivakumaran, OxfordUniversity Press, 2012 http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Law/?view=usa&sf=toc&ci=9780199239795 (see also the post here)
• – International Law and the Classification of Conflicts, edited by Elizabeth Wilmshurst, OxfordUniversity Press, 2012 http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Law/PublicInternationalLaw/GeneralPublicInternationalLaw/?view=usa&ci=9780199657759 (information on the upcoming book launch in London is available here)
• – What is War? An Investigation in the Wake of 9/11, edited by Mary Ellen O’Connell, 2012 http://www.brill.com/what-war

Cyber warfare

• – David Turns, Cyber Warfare and the Notion of Direct Participation in Hostilities, Journal of Conflict and Security Law,Vol 17(2), 2012, 279-297
• – Nicholas Tsagourias, Cyber attacks, self-defence and the problem of attribution, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, Vol 17(2) 2012, 229-244

Human rights

• – Lauren Groth, Transforming Accountability: a Proposal for Reconsidering how Human Rights Obligations are applied to Private Military Security Firms, Hastings international and comparative law review, vol. 35(1) 2012, 29-89

Transitional justice

• – Clare D. Dwyer, Expanding DDR: The Transformative Role of Former Prisoners in Community-Based Reintegration in Northern Ireland, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 6(2) 2012, 274-295.
• – Aaron Weah, Hopes and Uncertainties: Liberia’s Journey to End Impunity, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 6(2) 2012, 331-343
• – The right to reparation in international law for victims of armed conflict, Christine Evans, Cambridge University Press, 2012 http://www.cambridge.org/nl/knowledge/isbn/item6693125/?site_locale=nl_NL

General conflict studies

• – Luis de la Calle and  Ignacio Sánchez-Cuenca, Rebels without a Territory, An Analysis of Nonterritorial Conflicts in the World, 1970–1997, Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 56(4) August 2012, 580-603
• – Hanne Fjelde and Desirée Nilsson, Rebels against Rebels, Explaining Violence between Rebel Groups, Journal of Conflict Resolution, vol. 56(4) August 2012, 604-628
• – Case studies of conflict in Africa : the Niger Delta, the Bakassi Peninsula, and piracy in Somalia, edited by Mohamed A. El-Khawas and J. Ndumbe Anyu, Mellen, 2012 http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=8625&pc=9

 SSRN/working papers:

• – Vaios Koutroulis, And Yet it Exists: In Defense of the ‘Equality of Belligerents’ Principle http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2097308
• – Henri Decoeur, Avoiding Strict Liability in Mixed Conflicts: A Subjectivist Approach to the Contextual Element of War Crimes http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2095614
• – Peter Margulies, Networks in Non-International Armed Conflicts: Crossing Borders and Defining ‘ Organized Armed Groups’ http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2142851#
• – Nadarajah PushparajahThe Applicability of International Human Rights Law to Armed Non-State Actors in Non-International Armed Conflict http://blogs.utexas.edu/rapoportcenterwps/files/2012/09/Pushparajah_paper.pdf

 Blog discussions:

• – After the launch of the book ‘No Easy Day’ dealing with Operation Neptune Spear, i.e. the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s hiding place in Pakistan, Opinio Juris featured an extensive discussion (that was continued a few days later) on whether or not Bin Laden qualified as a person hors de combat and, as such, his killing would constitute a war crime.
• – One of the contributors to the LawfareBlog did an interview with Bruce Riedel, an American expert on Al-Qaida, which dealt with the state of Al-Qaida today, the posture of the Taliban and other regional terrorist groups, targeted killing, and the U.S. counterterrorism policy. A podcast and report of the interview are available here.

If you would like to alert us of a publication which you would like to appear on the next list, please do not hesitate to contact us.