BACKGROUND Post-September 11, 2001, the U.S. government has labeled thousands of Afghan war detainees "unlawful combatants". This label effectively deprives these detainees of the protection they would receive as "prisoners of war" under international humanitarian law. Reports have emerged that indicate that thousands of detainees being held in secret military facilities outside the United Stat...

The complexity of the ever-shifting humanitarian landscape in the Middle East region –where the effects of perennial conflict and instability have rarely been contained within one country – is a major preoccupation for humanitarian organisations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). As fighting continues in Syria, unprecedented levels of displacement and destruction have res...

BACKGROUND Although sexual and reproductive health services have become more available in humanitarian settings over the last decade, safe abortion services are still rarely provided. The authors' observations suggest that four reasons are typically given for this gap: 'There's no need'; 'Abortion is too complicated to provide in crises'; 'Donors don't fund abortion services'; and 'Abortion is ...

In recent years, research on military applications of neuroscience has grown in sophistication, raising the question as to whether states using weapon systems that draw on neuroscience are capable of applying international humanitarian law (IHL) to that use. I argue that neuroweapons largely eliminate the role of language in targeting, render unstable the distinction between superior and subord...

Abstract This article offers a brief review of the forces that have contributed to contemporary impasse in formation new international law and institutions. It identifies areas where development armed conflict would provide great benefits, yet current conditions render formal legal agreements highly unlikely. then considers how advance desirable projects nonetheless. In absence effective law-ma...

Pity the poor nongovernmental organizations trying to work in North Korea…It is, by all accounts, a lose-lose situation. 1 Brad Glosserman The Japan Times In this issue of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, Yim, Choi, and Van Rooyen provide us with a unique glimpse into the sensitivities and complexities surrounding the delivery of humanitarian aid in North Korea and the compelling struggle tha...

4 155 Amidst all of the debate about controlling the proliferation and misuse of small arms, there is a glaring, fundamental omission—the human face. Research and policy tends to focus on supply-related issues such as production and the mismanagement of stockpiles, interstate transfers and the illicit trade, technical aspects of weapons tracing, marking, collection and destruction, and on legal...