LCIL Friday Lecture: 'The Use and Abuse of Analogy in International Humanitarian Law'

Professor Kevin Jon Heller is Professor of Criminal Law at SOAS, University of London, a Principal Fellow at Melbourne Law School, and an Academic Member of Doughty Street Chambers. He is the author of The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law (OUP, 2011) and the co-editor of The Hidden Histories of War Crimes Trials (OUP, 2013) (with Gerry Simpson) and The Handbook of Comparative Criminal Law (Stanford University Press, 2011) (with Markus Dubber). He is currently writing a book entitled A Geneology of International Criminal Law and co-editing the Oxford Handbook of International Criminal Law, both of which will be published by OUP in 2017. For the past ten years, Kevin has been a permanent member of the international-law blog Opinio Juris.

Lecture summary: Over the past decade, the United States has consistently filled gaps in the IHL that applies in non-international conflict (NIAC) by analogizing to rules of IHL that apply only in international armed conflict (IAC). This presentation critically assesses that practice in the context of targeting and detention, arguing that international law permits applying IAC-based rules of IHL to NIAC only by convention or custom. It thus argues that the U.S. is systematically violating international law by relying on analogized rules to target and detain in NIAC.

Lauterpacht Centre - Term Lecture Programme and Information »

Numbers are limited so please arrive early to avoid disappointment. Please note the lecture programme is subject to revision without notice.