In her talk, “War Unbound” Professor Hathaway examines how changes in states’ interpretation of the law regulating the conduct of war, along with changes in war itself, have undermined protections for civilians. International humanitarian law, also known as the law of war or the law of armed conflict, is supposed to spare civilians from the worst calamities of conflict.

 The aim of this body of law is clear: civilians not involved in the fighting deserve to be protected from harm and to enjoy unimpeded access to humanitarian aid. And yet in the years since 9/11, a series of wars — including the U.S.-led “war on terror,” the Syrian civil war, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza — have led to the deaths of tens of thousands of civilians. Hathaway explores the breakdown in the law of war and asks whether the international commitment to containing war through law can be revived.

 Oona A. Hathaway is the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School and currently a Fellow in residence at the American Academy in Berlin.

 Further information may be found here.