In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: An Hertogen

02 Jun

This week on Opinio Juris, Roger Alford marked Memorial Day with the Battle of Blenheim poem, and Deborah Pearlstein weighed in on the discussion about Chris Hayes’ controversial suggestion that the label of “hero” is too often used to refer to US service personnel. Deborah also posted a snippet from the NY Times report on Obama’s “Kill List” in the conflict...

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26 May

This week on Opinio Juris, we continued last week’s book discussion of Laura Dickinson’s Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs, with Laura’s post on the role of organizational structure and institutional structure as a mechanism of accountability and constraint, and her response to Steve Vladeck and to the other commentators. In a guest...

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20 May

Calls for Papers If you want to participate in panels on R2P and on intervention in Africa at next April's International Studies Association's conference, a call for papers is closing tomorrow. The Minerva Center for Human Rights at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is organizing The 2nd Annual Minerva Jerusalem Conference on Transitional Justice entitled "Transitions In/To Democracy: Contemporary Chances and Challenges" on October...

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19 May

This week on Opinio Juris, Chris Borgen posted about Peter Watts’ short story on the legal and ethical questions relating to the use of autonomous aerial combat drones; Julian Ku shared Cato Institute’s Walter Olson’s observations on the revolving door between the UN and the US legal academy; Kevin Heller gave an account of his PhD viva at Leiden; and...

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14 May

This week Opinio Juris is hosting a discussion on Laura Dickinson's book Outsourcing War and Peace: Preserving Public Values in a World of Privatized Foreign Affairs. Professor Dickinson is the Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law at the George Washington University Law School in Washington DC. Her book addresses issues related to the increasing privatization of foreign policy functions of...

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12 May

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller posted on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s refusal to participate in his Military Commission trial, on the censored time-delayed video and audio feed from the trial and on the irony of an op-ed complaining about "false information about the detention" in the media coverage. Deborah Pearlstein addressed the question whether things might have gone...

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06 May

Last week’s announcements can be found here. If you are organizing a conference or other event and would like to see the call for papers or the program announced on Opinio Juris, please contact us. Calls for Papers Applications for the Helsinki Summer Seminar on International Law (August 21-30, 2012 ) on International Law and Capitalism: Exploring the Legal Architecture of the Global Political Economy close...

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05 May

This week on Opinio Juris, Chen Guangcheng’s escape to the US Embassy in Beijing did not go unnoticed. In a first post, Julian Ku discussed how Chen would not get political asylum at the Embassy. Peter Spiro followed up with his thoughts on diplomatic asylum. After Chen’s departure from the US Embassy, Julian asked whether the US or China violated international law. Julian also had a closer look at the content and legal status of the US-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement that Obama went to sign in Afghanistan. Duncan Hollis posted three first impressions from a recent conference at the US Naval Academy on the Ethics of Military Cyber Operations. Further on novel military operations, Ken Anderson posted a summary of his recent article, co-authored with Matthew Waxman, on the Law and Ethics for Robot Soldiers. Kevin Heller welcomed Communis Hostis Omnium, a blog on maritime piracy, to the blogosphere. He posted on Benjamin Netanyahu’s terrible week and analysed Libya’s challenge of the admissibility of the ICC cases against Gaddafi and Al-Senussi. He then addressed the question, raised in the comments by recent Opinio Juris guest contributor Mark Kersten, whether Libya is “able” to prosecute Gaddafi and Al-Senussi given that neither of them is currently in Libya’s custody. Kevin also discussed how the Nuremberg defense is popping up in the NFL’s bountygate.
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22 Apr

This is our third installment of this new feature, last week's announcements can be found here. If you are organizing a conference or other event and would like to see the call for papers or the program announced on Opinio Juris please contact us. Calls for Papers The Helsinki Summer Seminar on International Law is planned for August 21-30, 2012 in Helsinki, Finland. The theme...

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21 Apr

Continuing on last week’s discussion of the CIA’s General Counsel Speech, Ken Anderson posted about Daniel Klaidman’s guest post on Lawfare discussing the genesis of this speech. Another speech attracting attention was Deborah Pearlstein's discussion of a dinner talk by General Michael Haydn, CIA Director under George W. Bush, on interrogation and common article 3. If you’re losing track of...

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19 Apr

UN is examining claims that China broke sanctions against North Korea. South Sudan has become the International Monetary Fund's 188th member. Sudan has threatened war against South Sudan. Spain wants the EU to file a World Trade Organization (WTO) complaint against Argentina for nationalizing 51% of Spain's Repsol's stake in oil company YPF. The US has condemned the nationalization. Colombia has sent a letter to...

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18 Apr

If last week's post about  ASIL's 2nd Annual Research Forum at the University of Georgia Law School on October 20-21 was too short notice, don't despair. We have been informed that the deadline has been extended until Monday, April 23. The Research Forum, a Society initiative introduced in 2011, aims to provide a setting for the presentation and focused discussion of...

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