I'm not one to get hysterical over ICC news, but this recent development today strikes me as deeply problematic, and perhaps a tipping point. But perhaps not the tipping point that the ICC detractors have in mind. Sudanese President al-Bashir was attending a conference in South Africa this weekend with other heads of state and officials from several African nations. The...
On Friday, the DC Circuit vacated al-Bahlul's military commission conviction for conspiracy. There has been, and will be, much coverage of this decision, especially since the decision is a great candidate for a successful Supreme Court cert petition. Assuming that the federal government wants to appeal, which I can't imagine it would not, the case would allow the Supreme Court to return...
[Ailsa McKeon is a BA/LLB (Hons I) from the University of Queensland.] Growing numbers of men and women are travelling to the Middle East to fight for ‘ISIS’. Political figures from several Western nations, including Australia, the UK, Canada and Norway, have publicly asserted that these individuals should be stripped of citizenship of their countries of origin to protect, punish and...
Announcements Registration is now open for the 11th Annual Conference of the European Society of International Law to be held at the University of Oslo on 10 - 12 September 2015. The conference theme is: The Judicialization of International Law - A Mixed Blessing. Conference highlights include: A Keynote Panel on A Turn to the Rule of Law in International Politics: The Role of...
Eyewitness.org has released a new app that creates a secure “digital locker” for those who seek to record digital evidence of atrocity crimes for eventual use in by courts. The app has been produced by the International Bar Association and the legal services division of Lexis Nexis. Information is available here. The app was developed after controversies regarding the...
In March 2012 An Hertogen and Jessica Dorsey joined Opinio Juris as our first two Assistant Editors. Over the years, both have contributed immensely to Opinio Juris. Today, we bid An farewell as she enters a new phase in her career. You may be most familiar with An’s work writing our Weekly Round-Ups and well as the Events and Announcements posts....
[Carsten Stahn is Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice and Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Studies.This two-part post is based on a talk given at the seminar on Reconciliation v. Accountability: Balancing Interests of Peace and Justice, organized by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy on 29 May 2015 at the Peace Palace. Part...
I generally read the U.S. Constitution to grant broad powers to the President in the conduct of foreign affairs (see here for my recent take on Presidential war powers), but I am more hesitant to read the Constitution to prohibit congressional override of executive acts. That is why I disagree with Peter's implication above that today's U.S.Supreme Court decision...
A fascinating ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court this morning in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, the case presenting the question whether Congress can mandate that U.S. citizens born (to American parents) in Jerusalem may have Israel listed on their passports as their place of birth. Since 1948, every U.S. president has carefully avoided opining in any context on the status of...
Long-awaited decision here finding the President to have exclusive recognition power, trumping Congress' attempt to require birthplace of US citizens born in Jerusalem to be recorded as "Israel" on US passports issued to them. 1. Phew. Who knows what the response would have been in the Middle East if the Court had come out the other way. Maybe nothing, but it's...
[Carsten Stahn is Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice and Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Studies.This two-part post is based on a talk given at the seminar on Reconciliation v. Accountability: Balancing Interests of Peace and Justice, organized by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy on 29 May 2015 at the Peace Palace.] Introduction Punishment...
Africa Mali's government and Tuareg-led rebels agreed on a ceasefire in a strategic town and on more political guarantees on Friday, steps towards a U.N.-brokered peace accord to end decades of uprisings in the northern region the separatists call Azawad. The United Nations' top human rights official called on Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday to investigate reports of horrifying crimes...
