In association with the International Commission of Jurists

October 2012

16 Oct

[David Zaring is Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School] Pauwelyn, Wessel, and Wouter’s excellent book, which in turn marks the fruition of a project on informal international lawmaking that they dub IN-LAW, is pretty good on the theory end of things, which is what this post will look at, and also critique....

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16 Oct

[Joost Pauwelyn is Professor of International Law and Co-Director of the Centre for Trade and Economic Integration, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva.] The result of a two-year research project (involving over forty scholars and thirty case studies), this edited volume addresses a phenomenon we labeled “informal international lawmaking” or IN-LAW. We chose the word “informal” as it is...

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16 Oct

Over the next three days we are bringing you a discussion of a brand new book, edited by Joost Pauwelyn (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva), Ramses Wessel (University of Twente, The Netherlands) and Jan Wouters (University of Leuven, Belgium), on Informal International Lawmaking, published by Oxford University Press. Here is the abstract provided by the publisher: Many international...

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16 Oct

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton assumed responsibility for last month's deadly attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya. Commentary on this move from PrawfsBlawg can be found here and Foreign Policy analysis, here. The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia begins trying its last suspect, Goran Hadzic, today. Also on the ICTY docket today, Radovan Karadzic has begun his defense...

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15 Oct

Argentina is, to put it bluntly, one of the world’s greatest sovereign deadbeats, defaulting on its sovereign bonds more than once as well as bearing the distinction of being the world’s number one respondent in ICSID arbitration claims (or at least close to number one).  Last week, the ongoing struggle between foreign creditors and Argentina found a new flashpoint as...

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15 Oct

From the government brief arguing that the media and witnesses in the 9/11 trial should not be permitted to hear the defendants describe being tortured by the US government: "Each of the accused is in the unique position of having had access to classified intelligence sources and methods," the prosecution says in court papers. "The government, like the defense, must protect...

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15 Oct

A Human Rights Watch report outlines Syria’s recent use of cluster munitions in civilian areas, a potential war crime. Turkey has banned Syrian aircraft from its airspace as a show of its increasingly firm stance against President Al-Assad’s regime. The EU plans new major sanctions against the banking sector, industry and shipping in Iran. Iran said that the launch of a drone intro...

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14 Oct

Upcoming Events On December 7, 2012, the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, in cooperation with the International Humanitarian and Criminal Law Platform, will organize a conference entitled Prosecutor, Watchdog, Diplomat, Manager: The Multiple Roles of the International Prosecutor. Registration can be done here. Calls for Papers The Human Rights Centre in Practice and the Institute of Advanced Study at the University of Warwick have issued a call for papers for a workshop on Strategies...

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13 Oct

This week on Opinio Juris, Eric Posner's Slate article about the legality of US drone strikes in Pakistan attracted the attention of Julian Ku and Kevin Jon Heller. Julian wondered whether Koh's "conversion" on the issue will serve as a shield against international arguments about the illegality of the strikes. Kevin in turn expressed hope that Posner's rejection of the "unwilling or...

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12 Oct

The European Union has won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for uniting the continent in the face of the ongoing economic crisis. The 10th anniversary of the Bali bombings is being remembered in Bali, Indonesia, and in Australia. The NY Times reports how Indonesian counter-terrorism forces still battle local militant groups. Human rights activists in Iran are reportedly beaten, raped and sleep deprived, according to a...

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12 Oct

At his new blog, Derek Gregory posts the following photo, which shows American soldiers applying the "water cure" during the war in the Phillippines, which lasted from 1899-1902: Of course, not everything old is new again.  Five Army officers were convicted by courts-martial for using the "water cure" during the Phillippine War, with one reviewing authority unequivocally describing the interrogation method...

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