Weekend Roundup: May 17-31, 2015

Over the last two weeks at Opinio Juris, we’ve seen several contributions. Our regular bloggers covered a number of recent developments such as Deborah’s recent post, cross-posted on Just Security, on the D.C. district court’s considering the habeas petition of Guantanamo detainee Mukhtar Yahia Naji al Warafi, and the concept of “active hostilities.” On a related note, Jens covered the nature and scope of the conflict in Afghanistan.

Kristen pointed out that the ILC has now appointed a special rapporteur on jus cogens and also highlighted two recent reports on the ILC website, the first on crimes against humanity and the second on the identification of customary international law.

Julian also weighed in with a couple of posts, the first calling on the world’s media to realize that the US is not challenging China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea (yet) and the second was to point out his new article on Argentina’s sovereign debt crisis at University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, entitled: “Don’t Cry for Sovereign Debtors: Why Argentina’s Defeat in U.S. Courts Does Not Justify a Sovereign Debt Treaty.”

Kevin posted on Regulation 55 of the Rome Statute in the context of the Gbagbo proceedings and what he terms the irrelevance of the confirmation hearing. He also posted on when the left shoots itself in the foot (IHL version).

We had two guest contributions in the last two weeks. The first, from Rick Lines, Damon Barrett and Patrick Gallahue was entitled: The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: ‘Asian Values’ or Drug Treaty Influence? Marina Aksenova posted on Five Questions on the Colombian Sentencing Practice and the Principle of Complementarity under the Rome Statute.

Finally, I wrapped up the news and posted on the events and announcements.

Thanks to our guest contributors and to you for following us on Opinio Juris. Have a great weekend!