(Update, responding to Roger above: Let me stress that I have zero knowledge about Nobel Prizes apart from what I describe from my own experience below. I don't mean to generalize about them, although it sounds that way in part below. If there is any generalization that comes out of the experiences I mention below, it is about the nature...
[Professor Gregory Gordon is Assistant Professor of Law at the University of North Dakota School of Law. Anne Kjelling is Head Librarian at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.] We would like to thank Professor Roger Alford, the Virginia Journal of International Law and Opinio Juris for inviting us to participate in this online symposium. Professor Alford is to be congratulated on his...
Everyone knows about the Nobel Peace Prize, but virtually no one studies it. We all assume that Nobel Laureates are influential, but seldom do we try to gauge that influence. My article does both, arguing that Nobel Peace Prize Laureates have been influential norm entrepreneurs who have dramatically shaped the face of modern international law. The foundation...
[Professor David Kyle is Associate Professor of Sociology at University of California, Davis] Professor James Hathaway has adeptly exposed the Janus-faced agendas of the Trafficking and Smuggling Protocols, revealing a human rights deficit as the sum effect of these transnational codes. At the core of his argument lies an assertion that stricter border controls and legal constraints on labor migrants and...
[Professor James Hathaway is Dean and William Hearn Chair of Law at the Melbourne Law School] It is doubtful that the advent of the Trafficking Protocol deserves anything approaching the nearly unanimous support it has received from those committed to the promotion of international human rights. To the contrary, the Trafficking Protocol has enabled governments to hive off a tiny part...
This weekend the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Martti Ahtisaari for his role as an international mediator assisting in the resolution of international conflicts. The press release emphasized that throughout Ahtisaari's life he has worked for peace and reconciliation, with particular emphasis on his work in Namibia, Indonesia, Kosovo, and Iraq. Compared to last year's prize to...
That's the headline of today's New York Times article about Ali Kushayb, the janjaweed militia leader who has been indicted by the ICC. According to the article, the "[t]he move is widely being interpreted as a way for Sudan to improve its image abroad and attempt to head off the possible genocide prosecution of the country’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir." Honestly,...
The Virginia Journal of International Law is delighted to continue its partnership with Opinio Juris this week in this online symposium featuring three articles recently published by VJIL in Vol. 49:1, available here. On Tuesday, James Hathaway, Dean of the Melbourne Law School, will discuss his article, The Human Rights Quagmire of “Human Trafficking”. Dean Hathaway’s article takes...
Ladies and gentlemen, your peacemaker: Al-Bashir who rarely gives interviews told the British Channel 4 News from Khartoum that rape claims are made up by Darfuri women. “The women inside the camps are under the influence of the rebels and some are even relatives of the rebels. That’s why they make these claims” Al-Bashir said. “We are fully convinced that no rape took...
The Christian Science Monitor ran an important story on Darfur a few days ago, detailing how Bashir is using the claim that his indictment will derail the peace process as a smokescreen for continuing to wage war against the Darfurians. The title says it all -- "Sudan Makes Case Abroad While Still Bombing Darfur": "How will the ICC hamper the peace...
[caption id="attachment_4979" align="alignleft" width="118" caption="Sir Eli"][/caption] So, how much of a public international law wonk are you? If, like me, you are fascinated not only by the structure and substance of international law, but also the personalities that helped shape it, then you need to check out this oral history done by the Squire Law Library of Cambridge University with Sir...
Conventional wisdom would have that state and local regulation of immigration works against noncitizen interests. A story like Hazleton's (tinpot mayor making political hay out of undocumented immigration) makes for good copy, and it plays into the persistent liberal mindset that the federal government will better protect rights generally and immigrant rights particularly. Amazing how that survived even after the 1996 rout...
