Following Donald Trump’s stunning election victory, ballot measures are already being proposed in California and Oregon to secede from the United States. Ordinarily, one can just chuckle at these measures as the actions of a radical fringe, but it would be hard to overestimate the depth of anger and opposition to a President Trump in states like California, where he lost...
A couple of weeks ago a group of Opinio Juris bloggers held a round-table discussion at St. John’s University Law School about the international law and policy issues facing the next American President. In front of a full room, we considered issues ranging from relations with China and Russia, to the future of national security policy, human rights, international trade...
As regular readers of this blog probably guessed, I did not support Donald Trump for President (I didn’t support Hillary Clinton either, but that’s another story). I did, however, take the possibility of his election seriously and published a couple of posts (see this one here) analyzing the legal issues raised by his campaign promises to withdraw from existing U.S....
Anthony Dworkin, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, has an interesting new report out about developing ways in which European governments are using force abroad to combat the threat of terrorism of various sorts. The study is full of useful data points so is worth reading in its entirety, but I write here briefly...
Those of us here in the US are pretty obsessed with tomorrow's U.S. presidential election (and from what I can tell, those of you outside the States are pretty interested as well). International law has not been a huge issue in the election, but I do think tomorrow's result could have at least three big impacts on the international legal system. Trumpxit As I...
Here’s your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa Kenya has deported a South Sudanese rebel spokesman - a registered refugee - back to his war-torn country where he could face detention and abuse at the hands of the Juba government. Kenya has said it is withdrawing its troops from the United Nations mission...
Calls for Papers To mark 15 years since the coming into force of the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on 1 July 2002, the Journal of International Criminal Justice is pleased to announce a forthcoming symposium on ‘The International Criminal Court’s Policies and Strategies’ to be published in July 2017. The Court and its various organs have continually...
Urbanization is our present and it is our future. Between the recently completed UN Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, and Iraqi Special Operations entering Mosul, starting what may be a complex urban battle, we face constant reminders that much of the world’s population now lives in cities. How we protect rights, foster development, interact with the environment, organize politically,...
Early in my international law education here in the U.S, I learned that dualism was an unfortunate concept that led to the U.S. violating international law obligations by failing to enforce those obligations (usually treaties) domestically. But today's blockbuster decision from a UK court in Miller v. Secretary of State on Brexit should remind us that dualism can also work to...
As part of its “ICTY Legacy Dialogues” events, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”) is organising in the week of 19 June 2017 a conference on the legacy of the ICTY in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. We invite your participation. With the ICTY’s closure scheduled for 31 December 2017, the conference aims to enable others to build on...
The inimitable David Bosco dropped quite the bombshell yesterday at FP.com: The Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC intends to open a formal investigation into the situation in Afghanistan -- a situation that includes, as the OTP discussed in its most recent preliminary-examination report, US torture of detainees between 2003 and 2005. I'll have more to say about the...
