The US has frozen tens of billions of dollars worth of assets belonging to Russians and their government. A legal scholar explains why confiscating them is a bit trickier.
Russia’s indiscriminate war in Ukraine has caused a large-scale humanitarian crisis.
EFE-EPA/Sergey Dolzhenko
An expert on the history and politics of the UN says that the Security Council’s failure to intervene in Ukraine is a “black eye,” but the panel’s inability to act is not a design flaw.
Royal Canadian Air Force personnel load non-lethal and lethal aid at CFB Trenton, Ont., on March 7, 2022. The cargo was bound for Ukraine via Poland.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Nisha Shah, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
The laws of war and what is considered acceptable and unacceptable weaponry suggest there’s a right and wrong way to kill. It’s unlikely any of the victims of war would appreciate the distinction.
Bodies lie on the ground after a strike in Bucha, a suburb on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, April 4, 2022.
AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd
President Biden said that Vladimir Putin had committed war crimes, after news emerged of mass civilian murders in Bucha, Ukraine. Three stories from our archive explain what this means.
International Committee of the Red Cross workers prepare bags with bodies of government soldiers to be handed over in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, in 2015.
AP Photo/Mstyslav Chernov
Protecting the continent’s historical artefacts requires political will from governments – and a reawakening of cultural conscience among Africans.
Vladimir Putin celebrated Russia’s annexation of Crimea on March 18, 2022, the eighth anniversary of the move.
Mikhail Klimentyev/Sputnik/AFP via Getty Images
None of the available methods for holding Russian President Vladimir Putin accountable are likely to actually punish him, and they may even make new atrocities more likely.
No state in the global community should have to earn Russia’s compliance with the law. If the rule of law is not respected, the entire global community becomes as vulnerable as Ukraine is now.
A pregnant woman is carried away from a shelled maternity hospital. She later died.
AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File
Vladimir Putin has a history of flattening cities in time of conflict. But alleged war crimes in Chechnya and Syria never resulted in charges, let alone prosecutions. Will Ukraine be any different?
Irpin: where civilians fleeing the war were allegedly targeted by Russian artillery fire.
Mykhailo Palinchak/Alamy Stock Photo
International law says that the Russian invasion is illegal in itself. The Russian military’s alleged conduct also breach various international legal treaties.
Mother and child fleeing fighting between DRC and rebels backed by Ugandan forces shelter at a refugee camp in Zambia in 2003.
Photo by Natalie Behring-Chisholm/Getty Images
International laws are in place to prevent war and help protect civilians and combatants alike. But these laws are challenging to enforce and are unlikely to stop the unfolding Russia-Ukraine war.
What’s the point of international law if Russia can still invade Ukraine? Where is the enforcement? Three experts explain why holding Russia to account is so difficult.
Plastic trash floating on the Buriganga river in Dhaka, Bangladesh,
Jan. 21, 2020.
Munir Uz Zaman/AFP via Getty Images
Representatives of 175 countries voted to start developing a global treaty to reduce plastic waste. Treaties addressing mercury, long-range air pollution and ozone depletion offer some lessons.