On November 22, 2000, President Clinton signed into law the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act of 2000, closing a jurisdictional gap that had concerned the military since the 1950s. The new law establishes federal jurisdiction for crimes committed by civilians who accompany military forces outside the United States, as well as crimes by former members of the military who leave active duty before being prosecuted by courts-martial. Jurisdiction to prosecute under the new statute, however, is granted only to U.S. Article III courts and not to courts-martial.

At its sixty-ninth conference, held in London from July 25 to 29, 2000, the International Law Association (ILA) approved by consensus the Declaration of International Law Principles on Internally Displaced Persons (the Declaration). This Declaration, prepared by the International Committee on Internally Displaced Persons, followed two earlier ILA proclamations relating to the forced movement of people: the Declaration of Principles of International Law on Mass Expulsion, adopted in Seoul in 1986; and the Declaration of Principles of International Law on Compensation to Refugees, adopted in Cairo in 1992. All three instruments address forced movement from the perspective of the responsibility of countries of origin, in contrast to the traditional focus on the care and maintenance of refugees as a responsibility of first-asylum, resettlement, and donor countries, as well as of the United Nations and other international organizations, both governmental and non-governmental. By dealing with the root causes of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and their status, the present Declaration broadens the concerns of international law to encompass all persons who have been forcibly uprooted from their homes, whether or not they have crossed their national borders.