About the author(s):
Katharine Fortin is an Associate Professor at Utrecht University where she teaches IHL and IHRL. Before joining Utrecht University, she worked at the ICTY, ICC and Norton Rose Fulbright. She is the author of The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law (Oxford University Press, 2017) which won the 2018 Lieber Prize. She has written widely about the framework of law that applies to armed groups in non-international armed conflicts and is one of the editors of the Armed Groups and International Law blog.
It is our pleasure to provide our latest legal roundup which compiles academic writings relevant to armed groups and international law and non-international armed conflicts during the period September 2016-October 2017.
Our special thanks go to Karolina Aksamitowska, student assistant at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, for her valuable assistance in compiling this legal roundoup.
International humanitarian law and/or international human rights law
Report of Bruges Colloquium 2016 on Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and IHL can be found here.
Akande, Dapo, and Emanuela-Chiara Gillard. “Promoting Compliance with the Rules Regulating Humanitarian Relief Operations in Armed Conflict: Some Challenges.” Israel Law Review 50, no. 2 (2017): 119-137.
Bellal, Annyssa, The War Report: Armed Conflicts in 2016, Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights
Blank, Laurie R., The Limits of Inviolability: The Parameters for Protection of United Nations Facilities during Armed Conflict, International Law Studies, Naval War College, 2017, Vol. 93
Boothby, Bill, Space Weapons and the Law, International Law Studies, Naval War College, 2017, Vol. 93
Breslin, Andrea, A Reflection on the Legal Obligation for Third States to Ensure Respect for IHL, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2017, Vol. 22, Issue 1
Burniske, Jessica with Modirzadeh, Naz and Lewis, Dustin, Armed Non-State Actors and International Human Rights Law; An Analysis of the Practice of the UN Security Council and UN General Assembly, Briefing Report with Annexes, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, 2017
Farrant, James, Ford, Christopher M., Autonomous Weapons and Weapon Reviews: The UK Second International Weapon Review Forum, International Law Studies, Naval War College, 2017, Vol. 93
Fortin, Katharine, The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law, Oxford University Press, August 2017
Grant, Patrick B., Islamic Law, International Law, and Non-International Armed Conflict in Syria, Boston University International Law Journal, 2017, Vol. 35, Issue 1
Haque, Adil Ahmed, Armed Intervention and Overlapping Conflict, October 2017
John-Hopkins, Michael, Extrapolation of Criminal Law Modes of Liability to Target Analysis under International Humanitarian Law: Developing the Framework for Understanding Direct Participation in Hostilities and Membership in Organized Armed Groups in Non-International Armed Conflict, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2017, Vol. 22, Issue 2
Ka Lok Yip, The ICRC’s interpretive guidance on the notion of direct participation in hostilities: sociological and democratic legitimacy in domestic legal orders , Transnational Legal Theory, 2017, Vol 8, Issue 2
Kassoti, Eva, The Normative Status of Unilateral Ad Hoc Commitments by Non-State Armed Actors in Internal Armed Conflicts: International Legal Personality and Lawmaking Capacity Distinguished, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2017, Vol. 22, Issue 1
Lewis, Dustin A., Gabriella Blum, and Naz K. Modirzadeh, Indefinite War: Unsettled International Law on the End of Armed Conflict, Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, 2017
Lubell, Noam (2017) ‘Fragmented Wars: Multi-Territorial Military Operations against Armed Groups.‘ International Law Studies, 93. 214 – 250
Milanovic, Marko, Accounting for the Complexity of the Law Applicable to Modern Armed Conflicts, in Christopher Ford, Shane Reeves, Winston Williams (eds.), Complex Battlespaces: The Law of Armed Conflict and the Dynamics of Modern Warfare, Oxford University Press, Forthcoming
Murray, Daragh ed. together with Wilmshurst, Elizabeth, Hampson, Françoise, Garraway, Charles, Lubell, Noam and Akande, Dapo as consultant eds, Practitioner’s Guide to Human Rights Law in Armed Conflict, Oxford University Press, 2017
Sari, Aurel, Hybrid Law, Complex Battlespaces: What’s the Use of a Law of War Manual? ECIL Working Paper 2017/1
Saul, Ben, Many Small Wars: The Classification of Armed Conflicts in the Non-Self-Governing Territory of Western Sahara (Spanish Sahara) in 1974-1976, African Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law 2017 (forthcoming)
Todeschini, Vito, The ICCPR in Armed Conflict: An Appraisal of the Human Rights Committee’s Engagement with International Humanitarian Law, Nordic Journal of Human Rights, 2017, Issue 3
Verlinden, Nele and Ferro, Luca, The Qualified Prohibition on Third-State Assistance to Parties in Armed Conflicts: Illuminating the Myth, Interpreting the Reality, ESIL Conference Paper Series, Vol 9, No. 10, 2017
Wallace, David, Amy McCarthy, and Shane R. Reeves. Trying to Make Sense of the Senseless: Classifying the Syrian War under the Law of Armed Conflict, Mich. St. Int’l L. Rev. 25 (2017): 555.
Jus ad bellum
Blank, Laurie, The Extent of Self-Defence against Terrorist Groups: For How Long and How Far? Israel Yearbook of International Law, 47, 2017
International criminal law
Akhavan, Payam, Complementarity Conundrums: The ICC Clock in Transitional Times, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2016, Vol. 14, Issue 5
Hassanein, Ahmed Samir, Self-Referral of Situations to the International Criminal Court: Complementarity in Practice – Complementarity in Crisis, International Criminal Law Review, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 1
Killean, Rachel, Dowds, Eithne, Amanda Kramer, Soldiers as Victims at the ECCC: Exploring the Concept of ‘Civilian’ in Crimes against Humanity, Leiden Journal of International Law
Labuda, Patryk I., The Special Criminal Court in the Central African Republic: Failure or Vindication of Complementarity, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2017, Vol. 15, Issue 1
Moffett, Luke, Complementarity’s Monopoly on Justice in Uganda: The International Criminal Court, Victims and Thomas Kwoyelo, International Criminal Law Review, 2016, Vol. 16, Issue 3
Ruys, Tom, Justiciability, Complementarity and Immunity: Reflections on the Crime of Aggression, Utrecht Law Review, 2017, Vol. 13, Issue 1
Sadat, Leila Nadya, Putting Peacetime First: Crimes against Humanity and the Civilian Population Requirement, in Emory International Law Review; vol. 31, 197-269 / 2017
Wand, Daniel J. H., Gerhard Werle , Lovell Fernandez and Moritz Vormbaum , Africa and the International Criminal Court, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2017, Vol. 15, Issue 2
Transitional Justice
Bellal, A., ‘Non-State Armed Groups in Transitional Justice Processes: Adapting to New Realities of Conflict’, In: Duthie, R., Seils P. (eds) Justice Mosaics: How Context Shapes Transitional Justice in Fractured Societies. International Centre for Transitional Justice, New York, 2017, 234-258.
DeTomasso, Meghan M,m Schulz, Mario, Lem, Steve L., Choices of Justice: Effects of Civil War Termination on Postconflict Justice Mechanisms Implemented by the State, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2017, Vol. 11, Issue 2
McAuliffe, Padraig, Dividing the Spoils: The Impact of Power Sharing on Possibilities for Socioeconomic Transformation in Postconflict States, International Journal of Transitional Justice, 2017, Vol. 11, Issue 2
Nussberger, Benjamin, Military Strikes in Yemen in 2015: Intervention by Invitation and Self-Defence in the Course of Yemen’s Model Transitional Process, Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, 2017, Vol. 4, Issue 1
Steinl, Leonie, Child Soldiers as Agents of War and Peace: a Restorative Transitional Justice Approach to Accountability for Crimes under International Law, Asser Press 2017
Zoli, C., Bassiouni, M.C. & Khan, H., Justice in Post-Conflict Settings: Islamic Law and Muslim Communities as Stakeholders in Transition, 2017 Utrecht Journal of International and European Law Vol. 33, Issue 85
Engagement
Bellal, A., ‘Beyond the pale? Engaging the Islamic State on international humanitarian law’, 18 Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law 2015, 2016, 123-153.
Saul, Ben, Enhancing Civilian Protection by Engaging Non-State Armed Groups under International Humanitarian Law, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2017, Vol. 22, Issue 1
Drones
Chehtman, Alejandro, The Ad Bellum Challenge of Drones: Recalibrating Permissible Use of Force, European Journal of International Law, 2017, Vol. 28, Issue 1
Henderson, Christian, Introducing Perspectives on the Joint Committee’s Drones Report, Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, 2016, Vol. 3, Issue 2
Heyns, Christof, Akande, Dapo, Hill-Cawthorne, Lawrence, Chengeta, Thompson, The International Law Framework Regulating the Use of Armed Drones, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 2016, Vol. 65, Issue 4
Saura, Juame, On the Implications of the Use of Drones in International Law, Journal of International Law and International Relations, 2016, Vol. 12, Issue 1
Sehrawat, Vivek, Legal Status of Drones under LOAC and International Law, Penn State Journal of Law and International Affairs, 2017, Vol. 5, Issue 1
Spadaro, Alessandra, Legitimacy and Drones: Investigating the Legality, Morality and Efficacy of UCAVs, Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2016, Vol. 14, Issue 5
Uzan, Elad, The Future of Violence: Robots and Germs, Hackers and Drones; Confronting a New Age of Threats, Journal of Conflict and Security Law, 2017, Vol. 22, Issue 2
The latest issue of Contemporary Security Policy (Vol 38, No. 2, 2017) focuses on the Transformation of Targeted Killing and International Order
Targeting and detention
Clapham, Andrew, Detention by Armed Groups under International Law, International Law Studies, Naval War College, 2017, Vol. 93
Murray, Daragh, Non-State Groups, Detention Authority in Non-International Armed Conflict and the Coherence of International Law: Searching for a Way Forward, Leiden Journal of International Law, Vol 30, Issue 2, 2017
Provost, René, L’Attaque Directe d’Enfants-Soldats en Droit International Humanitarire: Expériences et Réflexions Canadiennes (Direct Targeting of Child Soldiers: Canadian Experiences and Approaches), 1 October 2017
Rose, Gregory, Oswald, Bruce (eds), Detention of Non-State Actors Engaged in Hostilities, The Future Law, Brill, 2016
Shany, Yuval, A Human Rights Perspective to Global Battlefield Detention: Time to Reconsider Indefinite Detention, International Law Studies, Naval War College, 2017, Vol. 93
Warren, Brittany R., Taking No Prisoners: The Need for an Additional Protocol Governing Detention in Non-International Armed Conflicts, Military Law Review, 2017, Vol. 225, Issue 1
Cyber warfare
Bailey, Christopher E., Cyber Civilians as Combatants, Creighton International and Comparative Law Journal, 2016, Vol. 8, Issue 1
Brown, Gary D., International Law Applies to Cyber Warfare: Now What, Southwestern Law Review, 2017, Vol. 46, Issue 3
Buchan, Russell, Cyber Warfare and the Status of Anonymous under International Humanitarian Law, Chinese Journal of International Law, 2016, Vol. 15, Issue 4
Ducaru, Sorin Dumitru, The Cyber Dimension of Modern Hybrid Warfare and Its Relevance for NATO, Europolity: Continuity and Change in European Governance, 2016, Vol. 10, Issue 1
Gesley, Jenny, Cyber Warfare: Military Cross-Border Computer Network Operations under International Law, International Journal of Legal Information, 2016, Vol. 44, Issue 1
Mazanec, Brian M., Constraining Norms for Cyber Warfare Are Unlikely, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 2016, Vol. 17, Issue 3
Stockburger, Peter Z, Known Unknowns: State Cyber Operations, Cyber Warfare, and the Jus Ad Bellum, American University International Law Review, 2016, Vol. 31, Issue 4
Sundaram, Jae, Cyber Warfare and the Laws of War, Journal on the Use of Force and International Law, 2017, Vol. 4, Issue 1
Foreign fighters
Chesterman, Simon, Dogs of War or Jackals of Terror: Foreign Fighters and Mercenaries in International Law, International Community Law Review, 2016, Vol. 18, Issue 5
Conduit, Dara; Rich, Ben, Foreign Fighters, Human Rights and Self-Determination in Syria and Iraq: Decoding the Humanitarian Impact of Foreign Fighters in Practice, International Community Law Review, 2016, Vol. 18, Issue 5
del Prado, Jose L. Gomez, Whether the Criteria Contained in the 1989 International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries Notably Motivation Apply to Today’s Foreign Fighters, International Community Law Review, 2016, Vol. 18, Issue 5
Jimenez Garcia, Francisco, Foreign Terrorist Fighters and Armed Conflicts: Immediate Utilitarianism in the Face of Unsolved Phenomena and Non-Agreed Norms, Revista Espanola de Derecho Internacional, 2016, Vol 68, Issue 2
Karska, Elzbieta; Karski, Karol, The Phenomenon of Foreign Fighters and Foreign Terrorist Fighters, International Community Law Review, 2016, Vol. 18, Issue 5
Krajeski, Thomas, Foreign Fighters and the War on Terror, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 2016, Vol. 17, Issue 2
Lloydd, Marnie, Foreign Fighters under International Law and beyond, Melbourne Journal of International Law, 2017, Vol. 18, Issue 1
Mahfoudh, Haykel Ben, Protect, Respect and Remedy: A Framework for Accountability for Human Rights Violations Committed by Foreign Fighters, International Community Law Review, 2016, Vol. 18, Issue 5
Venturi, Denise; Venier, Silvia, Foreign Fighters under International Law and beyond, International and Comparative Law Quarterly, 2017, Vol. 66, Issue 2
If you think we have forgotten a relevant publication, please email one of us and we will edit the post to include it. Likewise, please feel free to contact us with details of publications to be included in the next legal roundup.