Calls for Papers

• The Centre on Human Rights in Conflict is organising a workshop on Law, Faith and Historical Memory to take place in London (Stratford Campus, University of East London) on June, 12. More information is here
• The University of Wisconsin is inviting internationally acclaimed women scholars and advanced PhD candidates to the second conference on the Creation of International Law: Exploring the International Law Components of Peace, on April 4-5, 2014 as part of its Wisconsin International Law Journal annual symposium. The intention is to continue and expand the network of women scholars and practitioners that was launched in 2009 in Norway to support their engagement in public international law. The deadline for submission of abstracts is October 1, 2013. More details are here.

Upcoming Events

• The Canadian Bar Association’s International Law Section is organizing its 2013 International Law Conference on Friday June 7^th in Ottawa.  The title of this year’s conference is: Emerging Issues in International Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption and Compliance. Socially responsible business practices and strict adherence to anti-corruption measures are increasingly required of Canadian businesses and organizations. This one-day conference will examine the pertinent legal issues in a holistic way and give participants tips and skills to deal effectively with them in practice.  Registration is available here.

Announcements

• TDM Journal has released a special issue on Corruption and Arbitration. The issue analyses new trends, developments, and challenges respecting the intersection between, on the one hand, allegations, suspicions or findings of corruption and, on the other hand, decisions by arbitral tribunals regarding jurisdiction, admissibility and the merits of commercial and investment disputes.

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin was surprised by an unexpected dissenter in Kenya’s request to the Security Council to terminate the ICC’s Kenya cases. He also analysed whether the ICC has jurisdiction over Israel’s attack on the Mavi Marmara and particularly whether the flotilla attack qualifies as a “situation”. He followed up with a post asking why the Comoros are represented by Turkish lawyers in their referral request and why the referral request was only filed now. He also examined whether the PTC could review an OTP decision not to investigate a situation referred to it.

Kevin called on the ICC to keep its website updated, and listed four errors in the description of NBC’s upcoming series Crossing Lines on the ICC Police Unit, poignantly illustrating why outreach by the ICC itself is important to avoid a distorted public understanding of the ICC.

Peter asked whether the Bangladesh Factory Safety Accord was a watershed moment in global governance, while Roger pointed out problems with the Accord’s arbitration clause.

Julian put the spotlight on the confusing legal background of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute, and discussed whether California’s Armenian Genocide Law can be struck down on the basis of “field pre-emption”.

Bill Dodge provided another guest post on Yousef v Samantar, in response to last week’s post by Ingrid Wuerth.

Finally, we listed events and announcements and Jessica provided her weekday news wraps.

Have a nice weekend!

This week on Opinio Juris, the discussion of Kiobel continued with guest posts by Jordan Wells asking whether corporate liability is jurisdictional, and Anthony Colangelo arguing that Kiobel actually contradicts Morrison – the case on which it is supposedly based. Kevin asked whether the Al Shimari  v. CACI case could be a model for post-Kiobel ATS cases.

We also returned to last week‘s discussion of the decision by the Court of Appeals in Versailles on corporate liability for involvement in the construction of Jerusalem Light Rail, with an assessment of the case by Milena Sterio.

Another guest post this week was by Ingrid Wuerth on Yousuf v Samantar.

Peter argued that Ted Cruz’ birthplace isn’t a reason to oppose his nascent candidacy for the US Presidency and pointed out another Obama speech trying to reinvigorate the notion of citizenship.

Kevin discussed the finding of the Commission of Inquiry on Syria that the rebels, rather than the government, may have been responsible for deploying chemical weapons against civilians. Despite his past forays in reality TV, Kevin was still surprised by The President – a Palestinian TV show to (mock-)pick a new President.

Kristen discussed the transformation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. She also drew our attention to a new case filed at the European Court of Human Rights, alleging that Poland violated its human rights obligations due to its involvement in the CIA’s black sites and the extraordinary rendition of Abu Zubaydah.

Ken predicted that autonomous cars could force us to dust off the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, and discussed a new bill to be introduced to increase congressional oversight over kill-or-capture missions conducted by the US military outside of Afghanistan. Further on the war on terror, Chris recommended reading Harold Koh’s speech at Oxford Union.

Julian worried that China was playing a dangerous game floating claims about sovereignty over Okinawa.

Kristen posted a call for papers for the 2013 ASIL Research Forum, which she co-organizes. Other calls for papers can be found in our events and announcements. Finally, Jessica also provided you with weekday news wraps.

Have a nice weekend!

Calls for Papers

• The Editorial Team of the Latin American Journal of International Trade Law (LATAM Journal) is currently considering manuscripts for publication in Volume 1 Issue 2. The Journal welcomes contributions in English and/or Spanish on the various aspects of International Economic Law and International Commercial Arbitration. For the criterion on the submission of contributions, please visit our website. The deadline for submissions is July 31, 2013. The team is also pleased to announce that the inaugural issue is available online for free.

Upcoming Events

• The 2013 ILA-ASIL Asia-Pacific Research Forum will take place in Taipei, Taiwan on May 15-16, 2013. The program is available here. Questions can be directed to Professor Pasha Hsieh, Research Forum co-organizer.
• The Canadian Bar Association’s International Law Section is organizing its 2013 International Law Conference on Friday June 7^th in Ottawa.  The title of this year’s conference is: Emerging Issues in International Corporate Social Responsibility, Corruption and Compliance. Registration is available here.
• The Kwantlen Institute for Transborder Studies (ITS) and Political Science Department, the Non-State Actor Committee of the International Law Association, International Law Association – Canada, the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, and the Flemish Fund for Scientific Research Belgium are organizing a joint conference on Non-State Actor Responsibilities: Empirical Findings and Theoretical Considerations in Vancouver on June 26-28, 2013. A programme and more information is available here.

Last week’s post can be found here. If you would like to post an announcement on Opinio Juris, please contact us.

This week on Opinio Juris, the debate on Kiobel continued. Katherine Florey pointed out how the decision will deepen the divide between state and federal approaches to extraterritoriality issues. Ken Anderson argued that the ATS should be understood as the “law of the hegemon”. Peter agreed with Samuel Moyn that more attention to corporate social responsibility regulation could potentially have a broader impact in improving human rights than high profile ATS cases. Corporate social responsibility was also central to Peter’s post on the impact of recent tragedies in the Bangladesh garment industry on voluntary corporate codes.

Eugene Kontorovich wrote a guest post on the recent decision of a French Court of Appeals rejecting claims that the contract between Alstom Transport and the State of Israel for the construction of the Jerusalem Light Rail was illegal due to a violation of international law. Disagreeing with Eugene, Kevin pointed out that the Court of Appeal is silent about the possibility of a war crime under the Rome Statute.

On another controversial dispute involving a big corporation, Roger wrote about an Ontario Court’s decision to dismiss the Ecuadorian plaintiffs’ efforts to enforce the Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron Canada.

In news from international courts, Julian was surprised by reports about the ICJ Registrar calling the Bolivia’s application against Colombia “impeccable“, since he thought Bolivia’s case was ridiculously weak. Should the case reach the merits and go against Colombia, chances are though that we’ll end up with Colombian complaints about biased judges after the conclusion of the case, as it did for the recent decision in its case against Nicaragua.

Turning to the ICC, Kevin was troubled by Judge van den Wyngaert’s decision to withdraw from the ICC’s Uhuru Kenyatta case, and followed up with further thoughts. He also congratulated Leiden for winning the ICC Moot Court.

In other posts, Julian pointed out how China is now also pushing the boundary with India, and  asked whether force feeding of detainees on a hunger strike is always illegal. Kevin noted with horror a quote from Ari Fleischer on the difference between Nazis and terrorists, and recommended Mrs. Shipley’s Ghost: The Right to Travel and Terrorist Watchlists

As always, we provided news wraps and a list of events and announcements. Many thanks to all our “younger” readers for the many New Voices abstracts. It’s wonderful to see such a great response! Jessica and I are working through the submissions and plan to finalize the selection by mid-May.

Have a nice weekend!

This week on Opinio Juris, we continued last week‘s Kiobel Insta-Symposium. Quoting from his and John Yoo’s Forbes contribution, Julian argued that the rejection of universal civil jurisdiction is common sense because it leaves the decision on foreign policy consequences of extraterritoriality to the political branches. He also drew our attention to two positive assessments of the opinion, by John Bellinger and Eugene Kontorovich. Austen Parrish offered an alternative narrative about the meaning of Kiobel, seeing it as a welcome retreat from US unilateralism towards more multilateralism.

The many unanswered questions in Kiobel continued to invite commentary. Roger listed various activities with some link to US territory that may still be subject of future ATS litigation. Beth Stephens also predicted many years of continuing litigation, and preferred the world pre-Kiobel. Examples of upcoming cases were also discussed. Roger pointed out how the Supreme Court has already granted certiorari in DaimlerChrysler AG v Bauman, a human rights case involving jurisdiction over foreign corporations, and Roger Phillips discussed two piracy cases with mixed loci delicti that will soon arrive at the Supreme Court.

Bill Dodge argued that because of the unanswered questions, Kiobel is only a Pyrrhic victory for the position on extraterritoriality first pushed by the Bush administration and urged the human rights and business communities to reach a compromise on a statute that would end the litigation. Milan Markovich argued that it could also turn out to be a Pyrrhic victory for corporate defendants and could lead to more settlements to avoid discovery proceedings into whether claims “touch and concern” the US territory.

Accusations about the use of chemical weapons against civilians in Syria, as reported in our weekday news wraps, raised the question whether Obama’s “red line” had been crossed. Julian was sceptical as to why Assad’s use of chemical weapons would justify an intervention in Syria under US and international law, and Deborah similarly explored whether there is a legal basis for intervention.

Other recent events that prompted posts were the Boston bombings, which Kevin argued fall within at least one definition of terrorism that does not require acts to be politically or ideologically motivated, and the collapse of a garment factory in Bangladesh, which Roger hoped would provide an incentive to sign up to agreements, such as the Bangladesh Fire and Building Safety Agreement, that include a binding arbitration clause to ensure better protection of human rights.

In news from international courts, Julian updated us on the appointment of the final arbitrators for the UNCLOS arbitration lodged by the Philippines against China, and assessed China’s “talking points” on the case. He also urged the Supreme Court to follow the ICJ’s lead and release video recordings of oral hearings.  On the US-ICC relationship, Julian ventured that a cultural change is required if it is to blossom into a love affair. More news from the ICC came from Kevin, who worried that a funding crisis was behind the OPCD’s request to withdraw from the Saif Gaddafi case, and the Pre-Trial Chamber’s approval of a new lawyer.

Finally, Kevin corrected an old post on whether Bill Keller of the NYTimes can be charged with aiding and abetting the enemy like Bradley Manning.

As always, we listed events and announcements that may be of interest to our readers. And remember, there is still time for grad students and recent grads out there to submit an abstract for our New Voices symposium!

Have a nice weekend!

Calls for Papers

• We have launched our own call for papers aimed at LL.M, Ph.D and S.J.D. students as well as those practitioners/academics within the first five years post-degree to participate in our New Voices symposium starting in July. The deadline for 200-word abstract submissions is May 1, 2013.

Upcoming Events

• ASIL is organizing a few lunch time events this week: on Tuesday its Government Attorneys Interest Group is organizing a seminar on Federal Executive Branch Ethics: Ethically Entering and Exiting Government for International Practitioners; on Thursday, Jess Bravin will discuss his book “The Terror Courts” in a seminar on Guantanamo Military Commissions: Lessons Learned and the Way Forward; and on Friday there will be a discussion on The Use of Force Against a Nuclear Threat from Iran: International Law and the Role of the UN.
• Also in Washington DC, the ABA International Law 2013 Spring Meeting will take place from April 23-27.
• ASIL’s International Legal Theory Interest Group and Pepperdine University School of Law are organizing a symposium at the ASIL Headquarters in Washington DC on May 2, 2013 entitled The Rise of Non-State Law. The programme and registation can be found here.
• The ERC project ‘MultiRights’, the ECRP project ‘International Law through the National Prism: the Impact of Judicial Dialogue’ and the Norwegian Centre of Excellence ‘PluriCourts’ are organising a conference on Transnational Judicial Dialogue in Oslo, Norway on June 21 and 22. The programme is here. Registration closes on May 15, 2013.

Last week’s post can be found here. If you would like to post an announcement on Opinio Juris, please contact us.

This week on Opinio Juris, it was hard to miss our insta-symposium on the Supreme Court’s decision in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum. Ken beat Julian to the punch to break the news and link to the opinions.

The core part of Chief Justice Roberts’ opinion for the Court, on the insufficiency of “mere corporate presence” to displace the presumption against extraterritoriality, can be found in this post by Julian. Roger read this to require that the ATS can only apply to conduct that at least partly takes place within the United States. Julian concluded that instances of corporate civil liability under the ATS are now restricted to very specific, and very unlikely, situations.

A recurring theme in the comments were the many questions that the majority opinion left unanswered, a point that was also raised in Justice Kennedy’s one paragraph concurrence, which Deborah would like to have identified those questions in more details. Thomas Lee and Marty Lederman had a go at developing scenarios in which the presumption against extra-territoriality could be rebutted.

Although Chimène Keitner welcomed how the majority’s opinion may have made the ATS more robust by clearing up some issues, she agreed with other commentators that Justice Breyer’s concurrence took the better conceptual approach. Anthony Colangelo criticised the majority opinion for extending the presumption against extraterritoriality to causes of action, which as part of lex fori are by definition not extraterritorial. Also favouring the Breyer concurrence was John Knox, who was happy to see the presumption against extrajurisdictionality resurfacing. Alex Mills pointed out that by applying a presumption against total extraterritoriality, i.e. in foreign cubed cases, the majority opinion failed to answer conclusively whether the ATS applies when there is some form of territorial hook, and argued that the Breyer concurrence may end up being the more influential one.

Julian pointed out how Justice Breyer’s concurrence essentially read the ATS as an expression of the protective principle used to allocate prescriptive jurisdiction, and expressed surprise that Justice Breyer’s concurrence took a narrower stance than his 2004 concurrence in Sosa.

So, where does this leaves human rights litigation against corporations?  Peter argued how Kiobel does not spell the end for corporate compliance with international human rights obligations while Roger saw a big future in transnational tort litigation and listed seven advantages this approach has over its alternatives. Chris Whytock agreed that human rights litigation in state courts could increase, but pointed to a few barriers to this approach.

Mike Koehler discussed the impact of Kiobel on enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and Ishai Mooreville discussed why questions of personal jurisdiction would become more important, and why they were only lurking beneath the surface during the Kiobel litigation.

It wasn’t all about Kiobel this week though! Ken wrote about new scholarship, including some of his own, on law and ethics for autonomous weapons systems. Julian discussed reports that Japan is considering to take its dispute with China over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands to the ICJ, and attracted a lot of comments with his argument that the US could legally bomb North Korea’s missile before it is deployed.

In ICC news, Kevin wrote about comments by Fatou Bensouda about retroactivity when Palestine decides to ratify the Rome Statute and about the start of the construction of the ICC’s permanent home, set to be completed in 2015.

Finally, as always, we listed upcoming events and announcements and provided you with weekday news wraps.

Have a nice weekend!

With the steady stream of posts on Kiobel in the past 24 hours, you may have lost track of it all. So here is a little insta-roudup with links to all the posts we’ve had so far (there’ll be more in the regular roundup on Saturday).

To start, you can find the opinions here.

Julian posted on Roberts’ opinion, Kennedy’s concurrence (as did Deborah) and Breyer’s concurrence. He also provided his quick take and discussed the end of universal civil jurisdiction. Looking at the future, Peter wrote on how human rights will survive Kiobel and Roger on the rise of transnational tort litigation.

We also have a series of guest posts by Thomas Lee, Anthony Colangelo, John Knox, Chimène Keitner, Mike Koehler, Alex Mills and Chris Whytock.

There is more to come, and remember, we welcome unsolicited submissions by young academics who wish to contribute to our insta-symposium.

And if you want to refresh your memory, the posts from our roundtable when Kiobel was reargued in October 2012 can be found here.

This week on Opinio Juris, we hosted a symposium on the latest issues of the Leiden Journal of International Law, introduced here by Dov Jacobs. The first article, On the Functions of International Courts: An Appraisal in Light of Their Burgeoning Public Authority by Armin von Bogdandy and Ingo Venzke, discussed the functions of international courts in the international legal order beyond their traditional dispute settlement role. In his comments, Andreas Føllesdal asked how a “function” is defined and whether the various functions of international courts contribute to our assessment of their effectiveness and legitimacy. Ruti Teitel suggested to open up the question of legitimacy. The authors’ response can be found here.

The second article in the symposium was by Darryl Robinson, entitled A Cosmopolitan Liberal Account of International Criminal Law. Jens Ohlin commented how the article had made him take a step back. Mark Drumbl raised points on moral agency and how ICL can understate responsibility in mass atrocity. Darryl’s response is here.

Another series of guest posts was by Jonathan Horowitz and Naz Modirzadeh who provided two posts (1, 2) discussing how international law could work in transnational non-international armed conflicts.

If writing a guest post for Opinio Juris is on your wish list, check out the call for papers for our upcoming New Voices symposium, aimed at international law students and early career professionals.

In our regular posts, Julian shared his impressions about the ASIL Panel on China and international law, discussing in particular the importance of sovereignty to China as a fundamental principle of international law. Julian also pointed out Judge Leval’s article in Foreign Affairs defending the ATS and agreed with his suggestions of how a modern legislator could limit civil jurisdiction for the enforcement of universal norms.

Kristen brought a request for an advisory opinion to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea to our attention and wondered about the background of this request.

Deborah considered the McClatchy report that most drone strikes do not target senior al-Qaeda leaders, and speculated about what could the domestic and international legal basis for these strikes could be.

Chris posted about a conference this week at St John’s on the topic of Cyberconflicts. For more on upcoming conferences, see our events and announcements post.

Finally, as always, we provided you with our weekday news wraps.

Many thanks to our guest contributors and have a nice weekend!

Calls for papers

• In case you haven’t seen it yet, we have just launched our own call for papers aimed at LL.M, Ph.D and S.J.D students to participate in our New Voices symposium starting in July. The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2013.
• The Forced Migration Review invites submissions for a special issue on Detention and Deportation. Submissions are due April 15, 2013. See the call here.
• The Asian Society of International Law has issued a call for papers for its  4th Biennial Conference, Asia and International Law in the Twenty-First Century: New Horizons, which will be hosted by the Indian Society of International Law in New Delhi, from November 14-16, 2013. More information can be found here. The deadline for abstract submission is April 15, 2013. A half-day student workshop on research in international law will be held the day before the conference. More information about this event can be found here.

Upcoming events

• The Sydney Centre for International Law is a holding a conference entitled Facing Outwards: Australian Private International Law in the 21st Century on Wednesday, April 10, 2013. A conference flyer may be found here. For further information and registration, click here.
• The Spring Conference of the International Law Association (British Branch) which will take place in Oxford on April 12 and 13. The theme of the conference is “The Changing Face of Global Governance: International Institutions in the International Legal Order”. The conference will explore the changing nature of international institutions and their impact on international governance, international law-making and law-enforcement. Papers address the role of international institutions in a wide range of areas, including the maintenance of peace and security, international economic law, environmental law, law of the sea, international criminal law, as well as the regulation of technology and health. The Keynote Lecture and Inaugural Oxford Global Justice Lecture will be delivered by Patricia O’Brien, United Nations Under Secretary General for Legal Affairs and Legal Counsel.
• Golden Gate University will host its Annual Fulbright Conference on April 12, 2013 in San Francisco, California, with the theme International Law in a Multipolar World. This event which will bring together some of the region’s leading experts and scholars in international law. In addition, some Fulbright scholars have accepted invitations to attend or present at this event. Dr. Michael C. van Walt van Praag, will deliver the keynote address. Register online here.
• The inaugural London International Boundary Conference will take place on 18 and 19 April 2013 at the Royal Geographical Society, London. Speakers at the Conference are among the world’s leading experts and practitioners in the effective resolution of territorial disputes. They will examine recent developments in disputed “hotspots” around the world, and discuss new and emerging ideas for the resolution and management of territorial disputes, from legal, geopolitical, technical, commercial and other viewpoints. The Conference will also run a half-day technical workshop at King’s College London on the afternoon of 17 April 2013, offering a practical introduction to maritime limits and boundaries. For further details (including speakers, pricing and registration), click here.
• The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University, presents Can International Law Support Changes to Federal Indian Policy? Implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples on Friday, April 19, 2013.
• The British Institute of International and Comparative Law is organising its 13th Annual WTO Conference on May 15-16, 2013. The programme is available here.
• The Irish Centre for Human Rights, School of Law, NUI Galway, will hold its inaugural Summer School on Human Rights, Migration and Globalization from July 8-12, 2013. The inaugural year’s subtopic is Defining and Promoting Human Rights of Migrants in an Era of Globalization.The School is open to practitioners, journalists, NGOs, and students interested in the contemporary challenges of migration and human rights protection. During the five days of intensive lectures, delivered by leading specialists in the field, students will be provided with a detailed working knowledge of the issues through presentations, readings and class discussions which will include a component on research and advocacy skills. Participants will have an opportunity to propose their research ideas, advocacy or field experience for discussion with specialists and fellow participants, but you can register for the Summer School without submitting an abstract. The deadline for abstracts or for registration is May 31, 2013. Other summer schools on offer are on the International Criminal Court (June 17-21, 2013) and on Cinema, Human Rights and Advocacy (June 27 – July 6, 2013, applications due by April 30).

Last week’s post can be found here. If you would like to post an announcement on Opinio Juris, please contact us.

Are you an international law student or a recent graduate with an idea that you’d like you tell our readers about? Then we at Opinio Juris want to know about you! This July, we are planning to launch a new feature called New Voices: a two-month online symposium to run alongside our regular posts. Our goal is to give students and emerging scholars a chance to profile their work by providing a platform for fresh ideas that will hopefully stimulate discussion with our regular bloggers and commentators.

We invite submissions on any topic of international law from LL.M., Ph.D., and S.J.D. students as well as those in the early stages of their careers (e.g., post-docs, junior academics or early career practitioners within the first five years of finishing their final degree), anywhere in the world.

If you’re interested, please send a 200-word summary of your idea and your CV to opiniojurisblog [at] gmail [dot] com by May 1, 2013. If selected, we’ll let you know by mid-May. We’ll also let you know at that point when your post is scheduled to go online. Final submissions between 1000-1500 words will be required two weeks before publication for review, so at the earliest by mid-June.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments or send us an e-mail at the address above.