Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Kosovo and Lessons to be Learned from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

This article examines challenges in seeking justice for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (crsv) survivors in Kosovo. It analyses the roles and responsibilities of international missions and how deficiencies impact the prosecution and adjudication of crsv by Kosovo’s justice system. A key question is why two decades after the 1998–1999 war in Kosovo survivors of crsv cannot find justice? The end of the international mandates, the large number of war crime cases transferred, unfinished files, and the necessity for specific expertise in handling the gender-based violence are some of the existing challenges which undermine the prosecution and adjudication of crsv in Kosovo. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (icty) established accountability for sexual violence in armed conflicts. This article seeks to scaffold the icty experience by developing an accurate and comprehensive understanding of the nature of crsv and by examining its impact on survivors and victims’ alike. This paper then explores how a contexualist interpretation of international and domestic criminal law provisions can prioritise the prosecution of crsv amid other pressing needs in Kosovo.

It’s a Trap! Re-Thinking Samuel Moyn’s Humane Beyond the North Atlantic

Samuel Moyn’s latest book, Humane: How the United States Abandoned Peace and Reinvented War, offers a compelling re-reading of the history of the laws of war not as the precursors of international humanitarian law, but as enablers of what he calls “inhumane war”. Instead of advancing the cause of humanization of war, Moyn argues in favour of pacificism and the abolition of war in its entirety. And yet, Moyn’s decision to tell his history through two interconnected but different parts – one on the broader history of the laws of war and another on the very recent present of US domestic politics – forces the book to embrace a North Atlantic, Anglo-American vision of international law that robs it of valuable insights from the Global South and its relationship to the same body of laws. In this review essay, I explore these missed connections seeking to offer a more global approach to the history of war and peace.

Protecting the Environment During and After Armed Conflict, the International Law Commission and an Overdue Due Diligence Duty for Corporations

Recent years have seen a rising global consensus on the need to ensure appropriate protections for the environment during and after armed conflict. In this context, the International Law Commission provisionally adopted 28 draft principles on the protection of the environment in relation to armed conflicts in July 2019. With stakeholder consultation having concluded in June 2021, this article investigates what practical impacts the corporate due diligence and liability provisions in the draft principles are likely to have on the protection of the environment during and after armed conflict, should the principles be implemented as currently drafted.

Taking Care Against the Computer

The obligations of international humanitarian law are not limited to the attacker; the defender is also required to take steps to protect civilians from harm. The requirement to take precautions against the effects of attack requires the defender to minimize the risk that civilians and civilian objects will be harmed by enemy military operations. At its most basic, it obliges defenders to locate military installations away from civilians. Furthermore, where appropriate, the status of objects should be clearly marked. It is – somewhat counterintuitively – about making it easier for the attacker to select lawful targets by making visible the distinction between civilian objects and military objectives. The increasing importance of digital infrastructure to modern life may make complying with these precautionary obligations more complicated. Maintaining separation between military and civilian networks is challenging as both operate using at least some of the same infrastructure, relying on the same cables, systems, and electromagnetic spectrum. In addition, the speed at which operations against digital infrastructure can occur increases the difficulty of complying with the obligation – particularly if such operations involve a degree of automation or the use of artificial intelligence (ai). This paper sets out the source and extent of the obligation to take precautions against hostile military operations and considers how they might apply to digital infrastructure. As well as clarifying the extent of the obligation, it applies the obligation to take precautions against hostile military operations to digital infrastructure, giving examples of where systems designers are taking these obligations into account, and other examples of where they must.

Seeking ‘Truth’ After Devastating, Multi-Layered Conflict

In August 2015, the Government of South Sudan and other parties to the country’s civil conflict signed a peace agreement, the Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, aimed at ending the civil conflict that broke out on 15 December 2013. After this agreement failed to hold, South Sudan descended into a second wave of civil conflict. A recommitment to the agreement was secured through regional efforts on 12 September 2018. Dubbed the Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in the Republic of South Sudan, the agreement provides a transitional justice architecture which includes a truth commission, a hybrid court and a reparations authority. This paper examines the potential of the proposed Commission for Truth, Reconciliation and Healing to contribute towards sustainable transitional justice solutions in South Sudan, based on contemporary standards and practice of transitional justice. Through historical, descriptive and analytical approaches, the paper grapples with South Sudan’s complex truth-seeking journey following years of multi-layered conflict.