On 25 August 2022 the US Department of Defense published its Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan (CHMR-AP), outlining a major three-year programme of institutional change in how the US deals with civilian harm occasioned by military operations. The plan was ordered by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in January following the release of…

Two recent posts in the recent joint blog series on international law and armed conflict concluded that the siege of a defended locality was permitted under the Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC)/International Humanitarian Law (IHL), but subject to a series of constraints regarding the protection of civilians. The prohibitions on starvation of civilians (in Geneva Conventions Additional…

Writing in the Times last Friday, General David Petraeus, former commander of US Central Command, added his voice to the familiar refrain that ‘European human rights law’ has given rise to the ‘judicial pursuit of British soldiers and veterans’. Petraeus may be correct in stating that the British emphasis on criminal investigations would never obtain in…