The exploitation of grey areas in international law created floating prisons, black-sites, and the potential for and the probability of grave human rights violations. In its quest to protect American citizens, the United States continuously stretches the boundaries of legal construction to justify morally reprehensible behavior in the name of “national security.” A seemingly infinite … Read more
The perception of international human rights as being “universal” risks oversimplifying the historical traditions that typically inform the manifestation and protection of human rights internationally. This issue is particularly poignant when examining the differences between Western and Eastern cultures: while Enlightenment thinkers played a seminal role in defining conceptions about legitimate rule in the Western … Read more
Here in the United States, there has been a recent uptick in news about the “humanitarian crisis” stemming from children migrating across Central America and coming across the United States southern border. The news reports are less frequent now than they were a few months ago, but over the summer months headlines of the “humanitarian … Read more
An oft-stated axiom of international humanitarian law is that civilians can never be targeted in armed conflict, enshrined by rules 48, 51(2) and 52(2) of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions. The International Committee for the Red Cross study of customary law affirms that under customary law civilians can not be targeted. However, the United … Read more
I was pleased to see an article in which Amnesty International calls for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate crimes by the Taliban in Afghanistan. I have long felt that non-state actor groups that wage military style campaigns that intentionally target civilians get more lenient treatment in international criminal law circles. For example, many … Read more
The Denver Journal of International Law & Policy is one of the oldest international law journals in the United States and is ranked internationally. It is managed and edited by students at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law.
