In a piece of terrible timing, the Tokyo High Court has denied the appeal of a group of 10 Chinese plaintiffs seeking compensation for Japanese WWII atrocities. This decision comes just as the Japanese Foreign Minister left China without having resolved rising tensions and as the stocks of Japanese companies doing business in China plummet. Although I can't...
Last week, Nike disclosed a list of all 700 of its overseas production facilities -- including factories in China, Thailand, Mexico and Turkey. It has also admitted that abusive working conditions have been uncovered in several Nike facilities. All of this comes as part of Nike's settlement of the 1998 Kasky case alleging that Nike's earlier defenses of its labor...
Among the many criticisms of the ICC, is the idea that prosecution is not always the appropriate means through which to address atrocities and heal the societal wounds imposed by conflict. The Milosevic case, which Julian discussed earlier here, is but one example of how prosecution -- mired in technicalities, delayed for years and removed from the site of the...
The General Assembly endorsed by consensus Friday the International Convention on the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism . The treaty sets up useful legal definitions of nuclear materials and imposes obligations on signatories to pass laws outlawing nuclear terrorism, to cooperate in exchange of information on terrorists, and to prosecute or extradite alleged nuclear terrorists (but not extradition to...
I didn't notice until today this devastating WSJ article ($) about the interminable Milosevic trial at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague. ("ICTY"). Since it is behind a firewall, let me excerpt the highlights and hope the WSJ puts it on their opinionjournal.com free website eventually.As it enters its fourth year, the world's biggest war...
After several days of meetings, the ICC Prosecutor and Northern Ugandan leaders have issued a joint statement pledging to work together in the prosecution of alleged war crimes while at the same time trying to work out a peace agreement. The statement says absolutely nothing of importance and does not, for instance, require the ICC Prosecutor to limit his investigations...
DR-CAFTA, the Dominican Republic- Central American Free Trade Agreement, is facing rough waters in its first Senate hearing, according to this (admittedly anti-CAFTA) report. Opposition is particularly strong in the farm-states, where CAFTA would likely have its greatest effect. Key senators are already suggesting it is heading for defeat.I am generally supportive of free trade on policy grounds and therefore...
In the not very exciting race to be the next WTO Director-General, ex-EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy has pulled into the lead, according to this report. Brazil's candidate is apparently out of the running and Lamy has more support than the remaining two candidates (from Mauritius and Uruguay). Does any of this matter? It is hard to say,...
The stability of East Asia is a crucial problem for American (and the world’s) security. Julian’s post highlights what I find to be an ambivalence of many critics of international institutions: on the one hand they note that some country or region has “refused to jump on the internationalist bandwagon” but, on the other hand, they implicitly recognize that the...
The seemingly minor disputes between Japan and China that I noted some time ago here have continued to fester. This past week, thousands of Chinese marched in sometimes violent (but state-organized) protests against Japan’s attempt to gain permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council and Japanese history textbooks that have whitewashed Japanese atrocities during WWII (indeed, Japan has run...
David Brooks defends Bolton's nomination today on very straightforward grounds: Bolton is opposed to creeping global governance in the form of the ICC and a strong U.N. Here's an excerpt:They know we're not close to a global version of the European superstate. So they are content to champion creeping institutions like the International Criminal Court. They treat U.N. General...
A reporter from the BBC reports here on his observation of a hearing conducted by an Administrative Review Board for one of the detainees held by the U.S. at Guantanamo Bay. As I have discussed in the past, elements of the U.S. detention policy, including its process for reviewing the status of detainees is being challenged in U.S. Courts.This is...
