In association with the International Commission of Jurists

August 2012

05 Aug

In my post on the detention of Melinda Taylor and her team, I mentioned that the "guard" planted by the Libyan government to spy on the OPCD's official meeting with Saif first intervened when Saif tried to sign a statement describing his attitude toward the Libyan criminal-justice system.  I thought readers might be interested in the statement itself: Unsigned statement/sentiments from...

|
05 Aug

Call for Papers The University of Liverpool is hosting a conference December 6-7, 2012, on Critical Approaches to International Criminal Law and is seeking abstract submissions of maximum 500 words before September 1, 2012. The University of Amsterdam's Center for International Law has issued a call for papers for a two-day seminar on Interfaces between International and National Legal Orders: An International Rule...

|
04 Aug

I have just uploaded a new essay to SSRN, entitled "The International Commission of Inquiry on Libya: A Critical Analysis."  The essay is a chapter of a book on international commissions of inquiry that is being edited by the LSE's Jens Meierhenrich.  Here is the introduction: This chapter provides a critical assessment of the International Commission of Inquiry on Libya, established...

|
04 Aug

This week on Opinio Juris we provided a forum to two guest posters, Gabor Rona and Michael W. Lewis, who continued their earlier conversation on targeted killing over at Lawfare. In his first post, Gabor asked whether the politicians and military leaders in charge of defining the criteria for targetability will take a more liberal attitude because their own risk is zero and argued...

|
03 Aug

When I wrote my account of Melinda Taylor and her team's detention, I somehow missed this gem in the OPCD's response: 381.  The inability of the particular prosecution authorities assigned to the case of Mr. Gaddafi to conduct credible or effective investigations and prosecutions is amply demonstrated by the fact that these same prosecution authorities claimed that an ordinary swatch watch...

|
03 Aug

For various family reasons, I have been mostly off-line during the last few months, but I could not let slip by the sad news of the passing of Sir John Keegan, the renowned military historian and author of many works that certainly shaped my thinking and, I would guess, that of many readers.  The Telegraph, for which he served as...

|
03 Aug

Former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has quit as Syria's peace envoy after becoming frustrated with "finger-pointing" at the UN while the battle in Syria rages on. IPS offers more context here. China has expressed its regret. Meanwhile, a UN resolution on Syria goes to the General Assembly today, criticizing the Security Council for failing to take action and denouncing the use of...

|
02 Aug

Of all my writing, my article on the relationship between national due process and the Rome Statute's principle of complementarity is almost certainly the most unpopular. (Except in the OTP.)  My thesis is a simple one: the failure of a national investigation or prosecution to live up to international standards of due process does not make a case admissible before...

|
02 Aug

Syria's president Al-Assad has praised the government forces, but is keeping a low profile. US president Obama has signed a secret order to provide support to rebel forces in Syria. A video has emerged of men, allegedly loyal to the Syrian regime, being lined up in Aleppo being shot point-blank by rebel forces. In a recent report, Amnesty International has accused members of...

|