Direct Participation in Hostilities

Page 1 of 5

Filter category

Feature post image

Ukranian ‘IT Army’: A Cyber Levée en Masse or Civilians Directly Participating in Hostilities?

In the days following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Transformation Mykhaylo Fedorov announced in a tweet the creation of an ‘IT Army’. According to reports, as many as 400, 000 people from across the world have joined. A list of targets has been published and it includes a range of governmental departments, businesses and banks in Russia and Belarus. The list has been translated into English to help foreign IT specialists conduct cyber attacks. Since the beginning of the war, the IT Army has launched a number of DDOS attacks against Russian targets and knocked offline websites belonging to the Kremlin, Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Defence. DDOS attacks have also been directed against Russian companies and banks including the Moscow Stock Exchange. Belarus’s railway network has been hacked and was taken offline with the apparent aim of disrupting Russia’s transport of troops and equipment to Ukraine. The IT Army has also…

Read more

Armed Ukrainian Citizens: Direct Participation in Hostilities, Levée en Masse, or Something Else?

As Russia began its invasion of Ukraine last week, much of the focus was, rightly, on Putin’s actions under international law, and the response of the Ukrainian military.  However, at the same time, media reports were also noting the increasing involvement of Ukrainian civilians in the defence of their country.  Initial reports spoke of civilian…

Read more

Lost Between Law Enforcement and Active Hostilities: A First Glance at the Israeli Supreme Court Judgment on the Use of Lethal Force During the Gaza Border Demonstrations

In response to the ongoing violent clashes between the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) and Palestinian protesters during the so-called ‘March of Return’ along the Gaza border fence several Israeli human rights organizations petitioned the Israeli Supreme Court, challenging the IDF’s rules of engagement, as well as their implementation. The arguments put forward by the petitioners and the Israeli…

Read more

Active Hostilities and International Law Limits to Trump’s Executive Order on Guantanamo

In his State of the Union speech on January 30, 2018, U.S. President Donald Trump announced his signing of a new executive order aimed at keeping open the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as well as approving its repopulation. This post considers how the law of war governing detention in armed conflicts constricts the ability…

Read more

Joint Blog Series on International Law and Armed Conflict: Ashley Deeks on Common Article 3 and Linkages Between Non-State Armed Groups

The second post in our joint blog series arising from the 2017 Transatlantic Workshop on International Law and Armed Conflict, ‘Common Article 3 and Linkages Between Non-State Armed Groups’- by Ashley Deeks (University of Virginia School of Law) is now available over on Lawfare. Here’s a snippet:…

Read more