Opinio Juris is pleased to welcome back Professor Eugene Kontorovich of Northwestern University School of Law, who will be guest-blogging with us for the next week or so. As many of you may remember, Professor Kontorovich was previously with us this past February and he was also a commentator in the Opinio Juris On-Line Symposium. He specializes in public international...
Bad news for transparency at the WTO. The United States has issued a press release announcing that a WTO panel session in the dispute between the EU and the US over trade restrictions on civilian aircraft will be made available to the public for viewing by videotape. The hearing will be videotaped and then after the panel confirms that...
This documentary, which won a special jury prize at Sundance, opens on Friday. Here's a description from the film's website:The first film of its kind to chronicle the reasons behind Iraq’s descent into guerilla war, warlord rule, criminality and anarchy, NO END IN SIGHT is a jaw-dropping, insider’s tale of wholesale incompetence, recklessness and venality. Based on over 200 hours...
Last month, I noted that Chiquita Brands International had been fined $25 million for paying terrorist groups in Colombia not to attack its workers. Julian then pointed out that the families of individuals killed by the right-wing United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) had filed a class-action lawsuit against Chiquita in D.C. federal court, alleging violations of...
In case you haven't heard the, uh, news, I just wanted to update our post on the alleged man-eating badgers in Basra with the recent Iranian announcement that they have captured squirrels with implanted spy equipment. The BBC and the Washington Post have picked up the story. The BBC translation of the Iranian story states:A few weeks...
In conjunction with our friends from Prawfsblawg, Conglomerate and IntLawGrrls, Opinio Juris (in the person of me) will be hosting a happy hour (Einmaliger Stammtisch) at the margins of the Law & Society meeting in Berlin at Deponie No. 3 at 9 pm Wednesday, July 25. The locale has food as well as drink, so do come by and...
At the middle school where my children attend they offer three modern foreign languages: Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese. Rarely does a parent of a pre-teen have the opportunity to directly influence their future career opportunities, not to mention personal enlightenment, so dramatically as when we encourage them to take several years of this language or that language. In making...
Japan has deposited its instruments of ratification with the UN, making it the 105th member of the International Criminal Court. Japan instantly becomes the Court's most important financial backer, responsible for 19% of its modest $124 million budget. It will be interesting to see if that status translates into actual power on the Court -- Japan has announced...
Earlier this week, Prosecutors (finally) filed their introductory submission to the judges of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, supposedly identifying five suspects responsible for genocide and other atrocities committed during the Khmer Rouge regime. My colleague Jaya Ramji-Nogales (aka Lakshmi Bai) has the details over at IntLawGrrls. ...
On July 20, 2007, President Bush signed an Executive Order fulfilling the requirements of the Military Commissions Act (MCA) that he provide interpretations of the “meaning and application of the Geneva Conventions . . . for violations of treaty obligations which are not grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.” Here are the most relevant portions of that EO --...
In 1999, Libya made a number of arrests in conjunction with the contraction of HIV by hundreds of Libyan children. In 2004, six of the defendants (five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian who, depending on whose version you believe, was either a physician or a mere trainee) were convicted of intentionally infecting over 400 children with HIV at a...
Yesterday Richard Branson announced the establishment of a group of senior leaders from around the world who would lend their considerable experience and diplomatic “star power” to addressing various international crises ranging from violent conflicts, to AIDS, to climate change, among various possible issues. Although the description of the group, known as the Elders, reminded me...
