In association with the International Commission of Jurists

May 2011

17 May

Many thanks to Duncan for his great post on Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s (DSK) potential immunity, and for inviting me to follow up. My short answer: status-based immunity (often referred to as “diplomatic immunity”) is not available. Conduct-based immunity (also called “official acts” or “functional” immunity) is not available either. Here’s why. The only type of immunity that would benefit DSK would be...

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17 May

Can arguments for preemptive self defence under international law be regarded as a mirroring of feminist arguments for justified self-defence in cases of homicide by individuals who have experienced long-term domestic violence? This is one of the questions Dianne Otto raises in response to my MJIL article, ‘Feminist Reflections on the ‘End’ of the War on Terror’. In the article...

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17 May

[Dianne Otto is a Professor of Law at the University of Melbourne, where she directs the programme on International Human Rights Law] Two of the challenging questions that Gina Heathcote asks in her wonderfully provocative article are: What is a ‘feminist’ approach to the regulation of the ‘use of force’ in international law? What light is thrown onto this question by...

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16 May

As a general matter, we agree with Professor Weber’s comments, especially in relation to development and climate change. While we have not in this article focused on developmental aspects of the global financial architecture, in fact, we both view this as the fundamental goal.[1] Development however is not a simple objective and no single set of solutions to the development...

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16 May

[Douglas P Arner is Director of the Asian Institute of International Financial Law, Director of the Duke–HKU Asia–America Institute in Transnational Law and a Professor of Law at the University of Hong Kong. Ross P Buckley is a Professor of International Finance Law at the University of New South Wales and a Fellow of the Asian Institute of International Financial...

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15 May

A busy week of grading prevented me from addressing Ken's May 6 post on battlefield geography along with the May 6 news that the US conducted a drone attack in Yemen any sooner, but there should be an important take away on the boundaries of the battlefield from the bin Laden operation. An often heard complaint about the US conduct of...

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15 May

A former research assistant of mine writes with news of a conference at Columbia Law School May 23-25 that may be of interest to our readers. I copied the announcement below. More information available here. The Center for Climate Change Law and the Republic of the Marshall Islands are co-sponsoring a conference, "Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of a Changing...

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15 May

The arrest on sexual assault charges of IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Khan (or "DSK" as he's known to the French tabloids) is big news this morning. Most of the main stream media attention (quite naturally) has focused on the salacious allegations themselves and/or DSK's potential presidential ambitions back in France. Here at Opinio Juris, however, I'm sure I was not the...

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15 May

The Melbourne Journal of International Law is delighted to be continuing our partnership with Opinio Juris. This week will feature three articles from our most recent issue. The full issue is available for download here. On Monday, Douglas Arner and Ross Buckley will discuss their article ‘Redesigning the Architecture of the Global Financial System’. Examining the history of global financial governance...

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