In the wake of the Virginia Tech shooting, (the second worst shooting spree in world history) there has been a tremendous outpouring of criticism in the world press, particularly European press, against the United States regarding our gun control laws (or lack thereof). I am quite sympathetic to those arguments. But just to put matters in perspective, I did a...
In light of today's tragic events in Virginia, and given that yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day, I thought it might be an opportune time to mention an uplifting story: for the first time ever, an Arab Muslim, Khaled Abdelwahab, is set to be named a "Righteous Gentile" by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust remembrance authority. The title is reserved for...
Remember those "missing" documents that the ICJ never considered in its judgment finding Serbia not liable for the Bosnian genocide? In another twist, Croatian media is reporting that the documents were withheld and redacted as part of a "deal" between the Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, and the Serbian...
Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day, and in honor of that day I am planning to do a series of posts in the coming days on different subjects relating to genocide and the Holocaust. Primarily the focus will be on the neglected subject of the intersection between genocide and religion. But today I wanted to just flag a great op-ed in...
The WSJ editorial page has a predictable but still quite powerful defense of Paul Wolfowitz today based on the documents recently released about his case. The upshot: Wolfowitz is the target of a smear campaign aided and abetted by media organs like the NYT. (UPDATE: Prof. Ruth Wedgwood has a similarly outraged defense of Wolfowitz in the LA Times...
In an interesting development, the British government has decided to stop using the term "War on Terror":Development Secretary Hilary Benn will risk the wrath of Tony Blair's closest international ally by warning that US rhetoric has given terrorists a "shared identity". Mr Benn is to say openly that President George Bush's phrase "War on Terror" strengthens small disaffected groups with widely...
Serbia's war-crimes court, established in 2003 to handle "lesser" crimes referred by the ICTY, has convicted four Serbian paramilitaries of murdering six young Bosnian Muslims during the infamous Srebrenica massacre. Although one soldier was acquitted, the case against the defendants was straightforward: they filmed themselves committing the murders:The trophy video - which lasts about 20 minutes - shows several...
In a first for the Tribunal, the ICTR has officially transferred a case to a national court:The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) ordered that Michel Bagaragaza, the former head of Rwanda's national tea industry who is accused of involvement in the mass slaughter, be tried by a court in the Netherlands. "The chamber orders the case of prosecutor v. Michel...
This past week, the editors of the Texas International Law Journal hosted a conference on the always controversial Military Commissions Act of 2006. The conference was a bit predictable in that it was full of law professors and advocates criticizing the MCA. But at least their criticisms were knowledgeable and interesting. (Links to webcasts of the conference, which...
[John Knox is a professor at Wake Forest School of Law where he teaches international environmental law. This post is part of an Opinio Juris roundtable discussion of the international law dimensions of the Mass. v. EPA decision.] Roger’s, Dan’s, and Hari’s thoughtful posts explain why Massachusetts v EPA is an important case in several respects, particularly, of course, for...
In a strange turnabout, Yemen's Parliament has voted to retract its previous March 24 vote approving the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Reports are sketchy as to why exactly the Parliament has reversed itself so dramatically. So maybe we should wait a few more days and see if the Parliament reverses itself again. ...
Paul Wolfowitz, who, according to an intriguing profile in this week's New Yorker, has made the fight against government corruption a center piece of his tenure as World Bank President, was forced to issue an apology for arranging a job for his "significant other" (a World Bank employee) at the State Department. As the NYTimes reports, Wolfowitz's favorable treatment...
