experts
Oona A. Hathaway
Nonresident Scholar, Global Order and Institutions Program

about


Oona A. Hathaway is a nonresident scholar in the Global Order and Institutions Program at the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. She is also Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law at Yale Law School, professor of international law and area studies at the Yale University MacMillan Center, professor of the Yale University department of political science, and director of the Yale Law School Center for Global Legal Challenges. Her current research focuses on the future of the global legal order, accountability for the Russia-Ukraine war, the role of the United Nations and possibility of reform at the United Nations, and how to think about sovereignty in cyber operations.  Her research also focuses on foreign relations topics, including U.S. war powers and the law governing how the United States makes its international agreements.
 
An expert in international law, national security law, and foreign relations law, Oona is the author of more than forty law review articles, and The Internationalists: How a Radical Plan to Outlaw War Remade the World (with Scott Shapiro, 2017).  She is also executive editor of and a regular author at Just Security, and she writes often for publications such as the Washington Post, New York Times, the Atlantic, and Foreign Affairs.
 
In 2014-15, Oona took leave to serve as Special Counsel to the General Counsel at the U.S. Department of Defense, where she was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence. She has been a member of the Advisory Committee on International Law for the Legal Adviser at the United States Department of State since 2005. She is the director of the annual Yale Cyber Leadership Forum and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and she is a reporter for the Restatement (Fourth) of Foreign Relations Law. Her full CV can be found here.


education
Yale Law School, JD, Harvard College, BA
languages
English

All work from Oona A. Hathaway

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19 Results
In The Media
in the media
Russia's Program of Coerced Adoption of Ukraine's Children

Among the many crimes committed during Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine are large-scale efforts to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

· December 4, 2024
The Just Security Podcast
In The Media
in the media
New Report Documents Russia’s Systematic Program of Coerced Adoption and Fostering of Ukraine’s Children

A new report from the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab reveals evidence of Russia’s system of coerced deportation and naturalization, reeducation, fostering, and adoption of Ukrainian children.

· December 3, 2024
Just Security
In The Media
in the media
Abu Ghraib Torture Survivors’ Landmark Win Gives Hope for Alien Tort Statute Cases

A recent verdict offers a rare glimmer of hope for accountability for those who have suffered human rights violations due to the actions of U.S. companies. 

· November 20, 2024
Just Security
In The Media
in the media
We’re About to Find Out How Much America’s Leadership Matters

The international system empowers every nation to act independently: to enforce the rules, or to ignore them. The future of the global order—and everything it has delivered to the world—depends on what they decide.

· November 18, 2024
New York Times
In The Media
in the media
The ODNI’s New and Disappointing Prepublication Review Process

The policy makes some procedural improvements, but overall it’s a missed opportunity.

· September 4, 2024
Just Security
In The Media
in the media
For the Rest of the World, the U.S. President Has Always Been Above the Law

Addressing the problem of impunity requires addressing not just the absence of criminal accountability for the clearly unlawful acts of the president in the United States but also the long-standing absence of accountability for the clearly unlawful acts of the president and the government the president leads around the globe.

· July 16, 2024
Foreign Affairs
An overhead view of the UN Security Council meeting room, with members and staff seated in a semicircle
commentary
How to Reform the UN Without Amending Its Charter

Nonamendment reform can enable the body to meet the challenges of the moment when the Security Council is paralyzed by the veto.

· July 15, 2024
UN Security Council
commentary
Can the UN Security Council Still Help Keep the Peace? Reassessing Its Role, Relevance, and Potential for Reform

The UN Security Council’s paralysis amid the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict has deepened skepticism about the body’s capacity to advance collective security and promote the rule of law.

In The Media
in the media
Don’t Go to War With the ICC: America Can Help Israel Without Attacking the Court

If the United States and Israel truly believe there is no legal basis for the charges by the International Criminal Court, they should call the ICC prosecutor’s bluff. Israel should launch a genuine investigation of its own. 

· May 24, 2024
Foreign Affairs
In The Media
in the media
Strengthening the Laws of War as Non-combatants Die in Gaza and Ukraine

An examination of the history of the laws of war, which are clearly failing non-combatants as responses to terror attacks like October 7 and 9/11 that target civilians end up costing the lives of many more civilians since as many as a million died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

· May 7, 2024
Background Briefing with Ian Masters