Law Prof @AUWCL. Exec. Editor @just_security. Fellow @yaleisp. @Fulbright on climate #SIDS. Mama of 4 fab little ppl. Fmr @washpo, ICC. Proud #firstgen.
Articles by Rebecca Hamilton
Proposed U.S. Sanctions Against the Int’l Criminal Court Could Lead to Detainees’ Release
The Trump administration is reportedly preparing sweeping sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) as an institution, extending measures already directed at individual court officials. “The sanctions would forbid most transactions with the ICC” after a six-to-seven-month grace period, the Wall Street Journal reports. The aim or effect appears to be the destruction of the institution as a whole.
“In Focus” Syllabus Supplements: Russia’s War Against Ukraine (2022–2026)
Overview: This supplement includes materials that examine Russia’s war against Ukraine through the lens of international humanitarian law, reparations and compensation, the crime of aggression, NATO’s role, and litigation before the International Court of Justice, alongside the most recent developments in the conflict (last updated August 2026; additional relevant analysis may also have been published since then, available on Just Security’s website).
Early Edition: July 31, 2026
Sign up to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR President Trump said yesterday that the Board of Peace had reached an agreement for Hamas to begin disarming in Gaza, but did not provide details. The Board of Peace later said that Hamas had agreed to a “detailed road map” on disarmament and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
AI in the Military Domain: Multilateralism at a Crossroad
With the increasing use of AI on the battlefield, particularly in the wars in Gaza, Iran, and Ukraine, how states address its governance is increasingly under the microscope. Efforts towards effective multilateral governance have the potential to specify what is – and is not – permissible under international law with regard to AI in the military domain (AIMD). Not all states are eager to see that outcome.
Haiti’s New Courts Could Change Everything — Or Nothing At All
In November 2018, armed gangs entered the Port-au-Prince neighborhood of La Saline, which was known for its anti-government organizing, and carried out a horrific massacre. Gang members killed at least 70 people, including children and an infant. Some of the attackers wore police uniforms and arrived in government vehicles. My organization, the National Human Rights Defense Network in Haiti (RNDDH), interviewed witnesses who said state officials had helped make the attacks possible.
Before the Assembly: The Removal Vote and the Question of Fitness for Office
A note on perspective, in the interest of full transparency: we write as authors with longstanding ties to the Court and its work — between us, we have served as members of the Office of the Prosecutor, advocated before the ICC on behalf of victims, represented the U.S. government at the Assembly of States Parties, and belong to the Association of International Criminal Law Prosecutors (AICLP).
Is the United States (Still) at War? How Wars Begin and End
During the hostilities with both Venezuela and Iran, the messaging from the Trump administration on their status as an armed conflict has been garbled at best. Under the law of armed conflict (LOAC, also known as international humanitarian law), there are two types of conflicts.
The Just Security Podcast: Reporting at a Crossroads
A free and independent press has long been understood as a core element of healthy and secure democracies. Particularly in the realm of national security and foreign policy, news reporting and investigations are an integral source of information that enables the American public to evaluate the decisions of their elected officials.
Early Edition: May 15, 2026
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: U.S.-CHINA SUMMIT President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasized stability between the two nations on Friday, as they concluded the two-day summit in Beijing. The leaders made no specific announcements on trade, Taiwan, the war in Iran, or other points of contention.
Washington Is Backing the Wrong Lebanon Strategy
If the United States wants peace on Israel’s northern border, it should stop treating Lebanese state-building and Hezbollah disarmament as competing agendas. They are the same agenda. A durable ceasefire will not come from giving Israel a freer hand in Lebanon, nor from demanding that the Lebanese army do under bombardment what no state army has ever done successfully: forcibly disarm a deeply embedded armed movement in the middle of an external war.
The Crisis in Uniform: The Danger of Presidential Immunity for the U.S. Military
With the unprecedented gathering of general and flag officers and their senior enlisted advisers at Quantico now in the rearview, one thing is certain: at no time since 1860 have military leaders confronted such a grave challenge to their oath to support and defend the Constitution.
The Rome Statute in the Digital Age: Confronting Emerging Cyber Threats
When Edward Snowden leaked National Security Agency (NSA) documents more than a decade ago and exposed the breadth of U.S. government surveillance operations worldwide, the threat of invasive cyber capabilities was limited to a handful of state powers. Non-state actors lacked the technical capacity, infrastructure, and resources to replicate the NSA’s global dragnet. Since then, the threat landscape has changed significantly, and those limitations have eroded.
Trump’s Outline of a Domestic War
Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Donald Trump succeeded masterfully at Quantico last week in earning media attention. But all the finger wagging over “fat generals and admirals,” “dudes in dresses,” and the “warrior spirit” was a side show and a tactical diversion from the main event of the day – Trump’s call to arms against a new enemy. Americans.
Early Edition: October 6, 2025
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major news and developments over the weekend. Here’s today’s news: GLOBAL POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu and his government resigned today. Lecornu, who was appointed in September, named his new cabinet hours before their resignations. Lecornu pointed to political parties “who continue to posture as if they had a majority” in France’s hung National Assembly as the reason for his decision.
What the Senate Judiciary Committee Should Ask A.G. Bondi on Drug Cartel Strikes
Beginning in early September, the United States military, on orders of the president, has been lethally targeting suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean, killing 17 people and destroying three vessels that we know of to date, with a stated intention of continuing the strikes.
Legal Flaws in the Trump Administration’s Notice to Congress on “Armed Conflict” with Drug Cartels
The New York Times’ Charlie Savage and Eric Schmitt reported yesterday of a “notice” the Trump administration provided to several congressional committees this week, purporting to explain the legal basis for the U.S. military’s recent strikes on what appear to be civilian boats in international waters in the Caribbean—including, in particular, a strike on September 15 that killed three persons.
Sanctions against Israel: An International Law Perspective
Calls for States to take “sanctions” against Israel have grown in number and strength in recent weeks (e.g., here). Such calls take place within the context of Israel’s manifold violations of international law, progressively worse conditions for those in Gaza, and escalating extremist settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Certain States, such as Colombia and Belgium, have already taken measures against Israel in response.
Early Edition: September 17, 2025
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major news and developments over the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: U.S. FOREIGN AFFAIRS President Trump yesterday suggested that the United States has “knocked off” three alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean, telling reporters that “we knocked off actually three boats, not two, but you saw two.” He did not offer further details about the apparently undisclosed third incident.
The Many Ways in Which the Caribbean Strike was Unlawful
Now that the President has submitted the required War Powers Resolution report to Congress, we can begin to take stock of just how extraordinary and significant last Tuesday’s lethal strike in the Caribbean Sea was. As I will try to explain below, it’s likely that the President lacked any affirmative domestic authority to order the strike, and the strike itself appears to have violated several legal prohibitions.
The Human Costs of Systemic Corruption
In 2023, Turkey was hit by a devastating earthquake – one that claimed some 50,000 lives. More than 300,000 buildings collapsed, crushing entire families within seconds. For months, more than a million people were homeless, with little access to water or sanitation. This was not simply a “natural” disaster. Instead, it reflected the corrupting influence the construction sector had long exerted over its supposed regulators.
Three Thorny Issues to Watch in Congressional Investigations
The first six months of the second Trump administration has been a firehose of activity, with a seemingly unending supply of executive actions, legislative inquiries, and legal controversies.
Early Edition: August 5, 2025
Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated weekday guide to major news and developments in the last 24 hours. Here’s today’s news: ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR More than 600 retired Israeli security officials, including former heads of intelligence agencies, yesterday urged President Trump to pressure Israel to immediately end the war in Gaza. “It is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel,” the officials’ open letter reads.
How Trump’s Death Penalty Order Codifies Dangerous Speech
President Donald Trump’s Executive Order 14164, one of 26 he signed on the first day of his second term, did much more than reinstate federal executions. Trump directed the Attorney General to seek the death penalty in every case in which a “capital crime” is committed by an undocumented migrant. By tying the harshest punishment the state can impose to the identity of the accused, the order signals that some people—by virtue of who they are—deserve to be killed.
The Just Security Podcast: Keeping Track of the Big Picture--Challenges to Press Freedom and Beyond
May 3rd marks World Press Freedom Day. This year especially, press freedom is under threat in the United States from a range of directions: from hostile official rhetoric and actions to self-censorship and systemic appeasement, to just basic information overload. As the Trump administration continues to “flood the zone,” how can we assess individual developments to discern broader trends that might help us better understand what’s happening, its impact and what we can do about it?
Visa Revocations Disregard South Sudan War Risks, Overlook U.S. Communities' Embrace of Refugees
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Saturday that the State Department was acting to “revoke all visas held by South Sudanese passport holders and prevent further issuance to prevent entry into the United States by South Sudanese passport holders.” The rationale for this sweeping announcement is that the Transitional Government of South Sudan is not accepting the repatriation of its citizens from the United States “in a timely manner.” For South Sudan and its citizens, the timing could...
The Imperative of Solidarity in Response to Assaults on Legal Services, Universities, and Independent Media
Through the fog of norm-defying news, at least one pattern is clear: President Donald Trump is targeting three bulwarks of democracy and the rule of law: lawyers (law firms and legal service organizations), academics (universities), and journalists (independent news media). His emerging playbook is to bully some of the most privileged institutions in these fields to publicly submit to his agenda.
Connecting the Dots: Trump’s Tightening Grip on Press Freedom
A free press is a pillar of democracy, just as state-controlled media is a hallmark of autocracy. That is why monitoring actions that stifle the freedom of the press is a time-tested means of tracking the health of a democratic system. As journalists themselves scramble to keep up with the firehose of executive orders that President Donald Trump has issued since returning to power on Jan.
Taliban Charges Show US Dilemma, Double Standards in Opposing International Criminal Court
On Thursday, Jan. 23., 2025, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan announced his Office is seeking arrest warrants for the Supreme Leader of the Taliban, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and the Chief Justice of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Abdul Hakim Haqqani, for the crime against humanity of gender persecution (Rome Statute, Art. 7(1)(h)). The charges are unsurprising given what is widely known about the persecution of women and girls in Afghanistan.
What Just Happened: With ICC Sanctions
What happened? As part of his omnibus day one executive order (E.O.) called “Initial Recissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” President Donald Trump has revoked former President Joe Biden’s April 1, 2021, E.O. that terminated controversial sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Unpacking the Meta Announcement
On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to “eliminate fact-checkers” across Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram, signaling a major shift in how the company handles misinformation. He also outlined plans to adopt a user-driven “community notes” system, inspired by Elon Musk’s approach on X. Zuckerberg stated Meta would overhaul its approach to content moderation by removing certain guidelines and raising the threshold for removing prohibited content.
Syrians’ Pursuit of Freedom and Self-Governance: Prioritizing a Locally-Driven and Incremental Approach to Constitutionalism
On Dec. 8, Syrians reached a historic milestone in their 13-year struggle for freedom and self-determination, ending over five decades of al-Assad family rule. In the dead of night, like a fugitive evading justice, former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fled to Moscow, where he reportedly received political asylum. His escape marks the collapse of an authoritarian regime defined by terror, fear, and repression, ushering in a new chapter for a nation long ravaged by conflict and despair.
The Just Security Podcast: Could Ecocide Become a New International Crime?
Earlier this fall, three Pacific Island States – Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa – formally proposed adding ecocide as a crime that can be heard and punished by the International Criminal Court, which can currently try individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression. Any change to the ICC’s Rome Statute, particularly adding a new international crime, would require a massive level of diplomatic coordination and negotiation.
On Dictatorship and Self-Censorship: Lessons the Owner of a Sudanese Newspaper Could Give Jeff Bezos
“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do.” Timothy Sydner, On Tyranny (2017) It is vital that we discuss the Washington Post’s and L.A. Times’ non-endorsement in the U.S. presidential election, plainly and openly, as what they actually are.
A Perilous Senate Hearing on Bill to Sanction the International Criminal Court
During a business meeting this upcoming Wednesday, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider legislation that would impose financial and travel sanctions on an expansive number of people and organizations, potentially including key U.S. allies, in the name of condemning the International Criminal Court (ICC). Legislative background The Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act (ICCA) – introduced by Rep.
Why Criminalize Ecocide? Experts Weigh In
On Sept. 9, three Pacific Island states – Vanuatu, Fiji, and Samoa – announced their submission of a formal proposal to amend the International Criminal Court’s statute to make ecocide an international crime. It bears noting at the outset: Amending the Rome Statute is, politically, a Herculean task so no one should expect to see an international prosecution for ecocide anytime soon.
US Arrests Former Syrian Prison Chief – But Will the Charges Prove Equal to His Crimes?
Samir Ousman al-Sheikh was about to board a one-way flight from Los Angeles to Beirut when his trip came to a sudden stop. Earlier this month, agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security arrested al-Sheikh, who has been charged with immigration fraud for lying on his visa and U.S. citizenship applications.
The Just Security Podcast: ICC Arrest Warrants for Russian Attacks on Ukraine’s Power Grid
On June 24, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two top Russian officials for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Prosecutors allege that Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s former defense minister, and Valery Gerasimov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, directed missile strikes against Ukraine’s power plants and electrical infrastructure.
The Missing AI Conversation We Need to Have: Environmental Impacts of Generative AI
Editor’s Note: This article is the next installment of our Symposium on AI and Human Rights, co-hosted with the Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA School of Law. Since ChatGPT launched in 2022, generative AI has gone from the province of computer nerds to part of mainstream discourse.
Whose Justice? Rohingya Perspectives on Post-Atrocity Justice
Over the past two decades of listening to survivors of atrocity crimes – including the perspectives shared in a recent survey of Rohingya survivors of genocidal violence in Myanmar – I have seen time and again that while the desire for justice is universal, the question of what justice means in any given community (and for different individuals within any given community) is often very particular and highly influenced by local context. There is nothing terribly surprising in this observation.
The Just Security Podcast: A Request for ICC Arrest Warrants and the Israel-Hamas War
On Monday, May 20, International Criminal Court head Prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he has submitted an application to the Court’s judges to issue arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and Yoav Gallant, the Minister of Defence of Israel, and three Hamas leaders, including Yahya Sinwar, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Timeline of Int’l Criminal Court Arrest Warrant Applications for Gaza War: What Comes Next and How We Got Here
This article is part of our new symposium on the ICC and Israel-Hamas war.
How Should the Press Cover Democracy?
The Just Security Podcast How Should the Press Cover Democracy? Jan 27, 2023 Episode 12 Just Security The democracy beat is all the rage in news coverage. But the press needs to do more than follow current events. As the “fourth estate,” independent news works in a system of checks and balances. At its best, the press can hold government accountable to the people. And so, the way it covers democracy and dictatorships matters.
“Impossibility of its being deciphered”: Anne Lister, her “crypt hand” diaries, and the contrast between voicing and silencing
• None ( ). I love and only love the fairer sex”: The writing of a Lesbian identity in the diaries of Anne Lister (1791-1840) . In ed. Women’s life-writing: Finding voice/building community (pp. – ). . • None ( ). Tory Lesbians: Economies of intimacy and the status of desire . In and . eds. Lesbian Dames: Sapphism in the Long Eighteenth Century. Farnham and . – . • None ( ). Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, Halifax (1791-1840): Her Diaries and the Historians . History Workshop Journal, 35(1), – . • None ( ).
What Makes People Happy? Decoupling the Experiential‐Material Continuum
RESEARCH REPORT Evan Weingarten, Corresponding Author Evan Weingarten evan.weingarten@asu.edu orcid.org/0000-0002-3363-3723 W. P. Carey School of Business, 400 E. Lemon St., Ste BAC 460, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4106 USA Equal authorship Corresponding Author 400 E.
Free Toiletries Distribution
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Opinion | Sudan has made amends. Let’s take it off the terrorism list.
Rebecca Hamilton is an associate professor at American University Washington College of Law. The U.S. government is poised to remove Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism, based on an agreement that requires Khartoum to pay $335 million to American victims of terrorist attacks. The deal recognizes that Sudan has met the delisting requirement of a “fundamental change” in leadership following courageous work by the Sudanese people to overthrow a 30-year dictatorship.
Taking the Wheel
The climate crisis, to me, comes as fire. Growing up in Vancouver, the summers of my childhood meant climbing in the local park and eating sunset picnic dinners at the beach down the road. But I’m now seventeen, and that’s just a memory. Summer is wildfire season, the weeks when venturing outside means the suffocating grip of tree ash in my lungs. What scares me most about those long days of hazy skies is that feeling of being trapped.
The Transfiguration Was a Gift of Divine Love
“Christ, Head of the Church, manifests what his Body contains and radiates in the sacraments: ‘the hope of glory.’” (CCC 568) They walked to the top of the mountain. Peter, James and John didn't know why they were walking to the top of this mountain, but He took them there. They had followed Him for three years over dusty roads, up and down hills and through fields, so it was no big thing for them to follow Him then.
'Just asking for a safe future': A number of Vancouver students set to strike against climate change
The walkout is set for 1 p.m. at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Rebecca Hamilton pictured last year at a student rally against climate change. She is organizing a strike from her high school on Friday. Vancouver students are co-ordinating efforts with young people from around the world in an international strike to protest the way world leaders are responding to climate change. The protest in Vancouver is planned for Friday afternoon in front of the Art Gallery downtown.
Guest post: 'Pushing On' along the Oregon Timber Trail
Karey Miles and Deann Garcia enjoying the fruits of their labor along the Oregon Timber Trail. (Photos courtesy Rebecca Hamilton/West Coast Women’s Cycling) The Oregon Timber Trail – a new, 669-mile backcountry singletrack route that a rider can follow from the California border to the Columbia River – is a gem of an idea poised to become the definitive off-road cycling experience in Oregon.
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