International Law Archive

Recent fears surrounding the possible use of chemical weapons stockpiles by regime diehards in Libya and Syria, or their seizure by regional terrorists, underscore the continued danger of chemical weapons proliferation and the need to take stronger measures to oppose it. The use of a significant quantity of a chemical agent in a concentrated area can not only be extremely deadly. Because the effects of exposure to chemical agents occur rapidly and are usually extremely virulent, chemical weapons are also effective tools of psychological warfare. Moreover, under certain conditions, even a minor chemical weapons attack could cause widespread panic, leading […]

On Nov. 3, 2002, America began its campaign of targeted killings in nonbattlefield settings. After a year-long manhunt, a fusion of human intelligence assets and signals intercepts pinpointed Abu Ali al-Harithi, an operational planner in the al-Qaida cell that had bombed the USS Cole in 2002, driving in a Toyota SUV in Yemen, near the border with Saudi Arabia. A CIA-controlled Predator drone climbed into position, maneuvered its nose downward and fired a single Hellfire missile, which destroyed the SUV and killed al-Harithi, along with four other Yemenis and Ahmed Hijazi, a naturalized U.S. citizen and ringleader of an alleged […]

The International Criminal Court sentenced Thomas Lubanga, a former militia leader in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to 14 years in prison Tuesday. The sentence, which was the first imposed by the ICC since it was launched in The Hague 10 years ago, established the use of children in war as an international crime. “The verdict and sentence underscore the gravity of the crimes charged — the recruitment, enlistment and use of child soldiers — and the determination of the international community to hold accountable those who commit them,” James Goldston, founding executive director of the Open Society Justice Initiative, […]