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  • New US Landmine Policy: Questions and Answers
    August 4, 2014
    On June 27, 2014, the United States government announced a new policy foreswearing future production or acquisition of antipersonnel landmines. It said the Defense Department will conduct a detailed study of alternatives to antipersonnel mines and the impact of making no further use of the weapon.
  • Q&A: 2014 Hostilities between Israel and Hamas
    August 3, 2014
    The following questions and answers address issues relating to international humanitarian law (the laws of war) governing the conflict between Israel and Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups in Gaza that began on July 7, 2014. Israel began a ground invasion of Gaza on July 17. The purpose here is to provide analytic guidance for those who are examining the fighting, as well as for the parties to the conflict and those with the capacity to influence them.
  • Eastern Ukraine: Questions and Answers about the Laws of War
    June 30, 2014

    In several cities in eastern Ukraine, following the February 21, 2014 ousting of President Viktor Yanukovich, violence sporadically raged between pro- and anti-Kiev crowds. By mid-March, in several cities, particularly Donetsk and Luhansk, armed groups, initially calling themselves “self-defense units,” seized and occupied administrative buildings. Their demands ranged from making Ukraine a federation, to separation of their regions from the rest of Ukraine, to joining Russia.

  • HRW: Torture is an 'expanding scourge' in Asia
    June 26, 2014
  • Q&A: The Case of Hissène Habré before the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal
    May 20, 2014

    On July 2, 2013, Hissène Habré was charged with crimes against humanity, torture and war crimes and placed in pre-trial detention by the “Extraordinary African Chambers”in the courts of Senegal. The Chambers were inaugurated in February 2013 to prosecute the “person or persons” most responsible for international crimes committed in Chad between 1982 and 1990.  The Chambers’ investigating judges are now carrying out their investigation and, if they hold Habré over for trial, the trial is expected to begin in the first half of 2015.

    Habré has been living in exile in Senegalsince he was overthrown in 1990. He was also wanted by Belgium on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and torture.

    The following questions and answers provide more information on the case and what lies ahead.

  • Questions and Answers: Russia, Ukraine, and International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law
    March 21, 2014
    Since late February 2014, armed personnel in uniforms without insignia but increasingly identified as members of the Russian Federation’s security forces have been asserting their authority in Ukraine’s Crimea region.
  • Q&A: Hearing to Confirm the Charges Against Bosco Ntaganda at the International Criminal Court
    February 6, 2014
  • Perceptions and Realities: Kenya and the International Criminal Court
    November 14, 2013
  • Q&A on Fully Autonomous Weapons
    October 21, 2013
    Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies will soon make possible the development of fully autonomous weapons, which would revolutionize the way wars are fought. These weapons, unlike the current generation of armed drones, would be able to select and engage targets without human intervention. Military officials in the United States and other technologically advanced countries generally say that they prefer to see humans retain some level of supervision over decisions to use lethal force, and the US Defense Department has issued a policy directive embracing that principle for the time being.
  • Q&A: Syria and the International Criminal Court
    September 17, 2013