In association with the International Commission of Jurists

April 2010

27 Apr

My UN Dispatch friend Mark Leon Goldberg notes today that a group of Representatives are circulating a "Dear Colleague" letter urging their colleagues to support a resolution "opposing the United States joining the Rome Statute or participating in the upcoming review conference."  Reading the letter is an infuriating experience, not only for its ridiculously bad grammar -- how does one...

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27 Apr

When I teach International Trade, one of my favorite parts of the class is the discussion of trade linkages. How does a state balance competing concerns such as labor, the environment, and human rights? Typically the WTO accommodates those concerns through the General Exceptions that permit a state to violate the WTO rules if doing so is, say,...

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27 Apr

What should South Korea do if it confirms the responsibility of North Korea for the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel?  This article quotes a Korean law professor offering three options: Writing in JoongAng Daily, Kim Hyun-soo, professor of international law at Inha University, said Lee has three options if he wishes to avoid risking all-out war on the peninsula. He...

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26 Apr

My colleague David Post and I have an op-ed in today's National Law Journal.  In it, we challenge the sufficiency of existing responses to cyberattacks, whether in terms of pushing for heightened security, more criminal law enforcement or applying the laws of war (if applicable).  Criminal law (and the laws of war for that matter) depends on identifying and holding...

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26 Apr

This is not really a big deal, but it is still annoying when President Obama (or any president) flagrantly breaks his campaign promises with respect to foreign policy matters that are completely within their executive discretion.  Today, in his commemoration of the Armenians who died in the 1916 expulsion from Turkey, President Obama carefully avoided the use of the word "genocide"...

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25 Apr

I still think there is no chance of this happening, but Christopher Hitchens offers this narrative of how and why he is pushing for legal action against the Vatican, or maybe at least a deposition of the Pope himself. I telephoned a distinguished human-rights counsel in London, Geoffrey Robertson, and asked him if the law was powerless to intervene. Not at...

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25 Apr

The International Whaling Commission's proposed compromise on the whaling dispute has been released (h/t Jurist). As I noted before, the proposed deal would bring all nations within the IWC framework, but explicitly permit commercial whaling for certain nations for at least the next 10 years. The numbers permitted under the proposal is a little murky, but it may include thousands...

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23 Apr

Cross-posted on Balkinization and Scotusblog Since Justice Stevens announced his intention to retire, discussions about what his departure will mean for the Court have regularly noted his military service in World War II. The justice enlisted the day before the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor (and has joked about how the enemy responded to the news immediately). There is little...

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23 Apr

This sounds impressive, but somehow it feels like the ICC Prosecutor is going in circles on Sudan. THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Criminal Court prosecutor wants judges to report Sudan to the U.N. Security Council for refusing to hand over a government minister and a militia leader accused of atrocities in Darfur. Luis Moreno Ocampo said in a written request to...

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22 Apr

Did the ICJ ruling on Uruguay and Argentina help to resolve the dispute? Sort of.  There are some pesky protestors, though, who are not exactly convinced by the ruling. Both sides said Tuesday's decision by the International Court of Justice in the Netherlands gave them what they need to resolve their differences, with Argentina taking heart from a part of the...

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