This week on Opinio Juris, Kristen Boon followed up on her discussion last week about changes towards more transparency and fairness in the UN’s Al Qaida sanctions regime.

Craig Allen contributed a guest post on the ITLOS’ interim order for the release by Ghana of Argentina’s ARA Libertad. UNCLOS was also central to Duncan Hollis’ post on China’s submission to the Continental Shelf Commission in relation to the dispute regarding the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.

Peggy McGuinness congratulated Diane Amann, Leila Sadat and Patricia Sellers on their appointments as special advisor to the ICC’s OTP, but was saddened that Diane’s appointment meant a goodbye from IntLawGrrls.

In response to John Bellinger’s NYTimes op-ed, Chris Borgen argued that it is up to Republican leadership to address their base’s aversion towards international treaties. Further on news from the US Senate, Deborah Pearlstein posted the open letter by Senators Feinstein, Levin and McCain to Sony Pictures, protesting against the depiction of torture as an effective means of intelligence gathering in the new movie Zero Dark Thirty. She followed up with a post on the CIA’s press release about the movie.

We concluded the week with our final journal symposium of the year, on the latest issue of the Leiden Journal of International Law. Dov Jacobs introduced the two articles to be discussed, and the comments, here. The first article, by Monika Ambrus, looked through the lens of discrimination law at the question of defining a group for the purpose of the definition of genocide. William Schabas questioned why the definition of genocide needs to be broadened given that the definition of a crime against humanity has already been expanded to include peacetime atrocities. Frederic Mégret’s comment focused on the 19th century understanding of race and ethnicity that permeates the genocide definition. Monika Ambrus’ response is here. Samantha Besson’s article on extra-territoriality of the European Convention of Human Rights was the second article in the symposium. Comments were provided by Cedric Ryngaert and Marko Milanovic, to which Samantha Besson responded here.

Our weekly events and announcements and weekday news wraps completed the week.

Have a nice weekend!

Calls for Papers

• The Program on Information Justice and Intellectual Property and Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, American University College of Law; the Intellectual Property Law Center, Drake University Law School; the Center for International and Comparative Law, Duke University Law School; the Institute for Information Law and Policy, New York Law School; and the Committee on International Intellectual Property, American Branch of the International Law Association are co-sponsoring a Conference and Roundtable on Intellectual Property and Human Rights on February 21-22, 2013 at the American University Washington College of Law. The conference will focus on three distinct sets of issues being explored as part of a forthcoming book project edited by Molly Land and Peter Yu: (1) the right to free expression and enforcement of copyright on the internet; (2) the intersection of intellectual property laws and rights to benefit from culture and scientific progress; and (3) the right to health and access to patented medications. The conference welcomes presentations from participants who not wish to be involved in the project and on topics outside these three main themes. On Friday, February 22, registered participants are invited to a half-day roundtable discussion (under Chatham House Rule) on developing a working group of scholars and advocates engaged in work at the intersection of intellectual property and human rights. If you are interested to attend either or both events, please register here by January 22, 2013. If you want to present during the conference on February 21, please fill out the abstract section with a submission of no more than 500 words.
• The American Society of International Law’s Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict is calling for submissions for the Francis Lieber Prize. Both monographs and articles (including chapters in books of essays) are eligible for consideration, as the prize is awarded to the best submission in each of these two categories.
  • Criteria: Any work in the English language published during 2012 or whose publication is imminent at the time of submission may be nominated for this prize. The re-submission of works which have already been considered for this prize is not allowed. Entries may address such topics as the use of force in international law, the conduct of hostilities during international and non‑international armed conflicts, protected persons and objects under the law of armed conflict, the law of weapons, operational law, rules of engagement, occupation law, peace operations, counter‑terrorist operations, and humanitarian assistance. Other topics bearing on the application of international law during armed conflict or other military operations are also appropriate.
  • Age Limit: Competitors must be 35 years old or younger at the time of submission. They need not be members of the American Society of International Law. Multi-authored works may be submitted if all the authors are eligible to enter the competition. Should a multi-authored submission win the competition, the cash component of the prize shall be divided, pro rata, between the authors. Submissions from outside the United States are welcomed.
  • Submission: Submissions, including a letter or message of nomination, must be received by 21 January 2013. Three copies of books must be submitted. The electronic submission of articles is encouraged. Authors may submit their own work. Any work not already published must be accompanied by documentation indicating that it has been accepted for publication. All submissions must include contact data (e‑mail, fax, phone, address). The Prize Committee will acknowledge receipt of the submission by e‑mail.
  • Printed submissions must be sent to: Professor Iain Scobbie, Department of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG, United Kingdom. Electronic submissions must be sent to: is17 [at] soas [dot] ac [dot] uk . Please indicate clearly in the subject line that the email concerns a submission for the Lieber Prize.
  • Prize: The Selection Committee will select one submission for the award of the Francis Lieber Prize in the book category and one in the article category. The Prizes consist of $500, a certificate of recognition, and a year’s membership of the American Society of International Law. The winner of the Lieber Prize in both categories will be announced at the American Society of International Law’s Annual Meeting in March 2013.
• The Global Norms Project at the Universität Bremen is calling for abstracts of up to 500 words, due by February 15, 2013, for a conference on The Legitimation and Delegitimation of Global Governance Organizations to take place in Bremen, Germany, on September 11-13, 2013. More information can be found here.

Announcements

• Elizabeth Trujillo from Suffolk University Law School and Jason Yackee from University of Wisconsin School of Law have been elected to be Co-Chairs of the International Economic Law Interest Group for ASIL, after 2 years as being Co-Vice Chairs under the leadership of Sungjoon Cho and Claire Kelly.  New Co-Vice-Chairs are David Zaring and Sonia Rolland.  The election took place at the ASIL-IEcLIG Biennial conference held at George Washington Law School in Washington DC on Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2012.  The new leadership will be assuming their positions at the ASIL 2013 Annual Meeting in April.

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

This week on Opinio Juris, a guest post by Daniel Bethlehem, following up on a post by Julian Ku last week, offered three more legal bases for the legality of an intervention in Syria. Also continuing on some of last week’s themes, Kevin Jon Heller wrote how a recent decision by the ICC’s Appeals Chamber confirms his argument on retroactive ad hoc jurisdiction, and Deborah Pearlstein couldn’t resist taking apart Eric Posner’s Slate article on Jeh Johnson’s recent speech in Oxford. In another post, Deborah refused to read too much into the decisions by Harold Koh and Jeh Johnson to step down from their respective roles at the State Department and the Pentagon.

Ken Anderson recapped the recent debate on autonomous weapon systems and regulation, about which he has created a brief bibliography over at Lawfare. He also extended his congratulations to various members of the OJ community, including Kevin who was recently promoted to Associate Professor & Reader.

Kevin discussed rumours that the OTP is investigating the actions of the M23 movement and others in eastern Congo, and Kirsten Boon discussed the UN Security Council’s upcoming review of the mandate of the Ombudsperson and monitoring regime for al-Qaida sanctions.

On a lighter note, Duncan Hollis provided a link to Jimmy Fallon’s routine on the best treaty in the world and Kevin posted about international relations as depicted by cats.

As always, we provided a listing of upcoming events and daily news wraps.

Have a nice weekend!

This week on Opinio Juris, we continued a few conversations from last week. Kevin Jon Heller clarified his argument about the retroactive acceptance of the ICC’s jurisdiction, and challenged the assumption that Palestine was not a state before last week’s UNGA vote. Deborah Pearlstein advanced three reasons for the importance of Jeh Johnson’s recent speech on the conditions for calling an end to the war on terror.

Continuing on the war on terror, Kevin expressed concern over the extension of US targeting policy in Afghanistan to “children with potential hostile intent“.

A few posts dealt with the growing divide between US law and international law. In a guest post on the Feinstein amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, Jonathan Hafetz argued that the amendment widens the rift between US constitutional law and international law by deepening discrimination against non-citizens.  Peter Spiro and Julian Ku both wrote about the Senate’s rejection of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Peter argued that the rejection does not prove that sovereigntism lives, but rather that the supermajority required by the US constitution’s Treaty clause is outdated. He also posted a link to a Daily Show segment on the vote. Julian argued that sovereigntists should have held their fire for other treaties that, contrary to the CRPD, may actually have an impact on US law. In another post, Julian argued that a unilateral US intervention in Syria if the Assad regime deploys chemical weapons would be illegal under international law.

Following a recent meeting of the International Commission on the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna, Kristen Boon discussed possible incentives to avoid overfishing. Kristen also discussed whether the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States (CERDS) could fill the legal void surrounding land grabbing.

As always, we also provided a list of upcoming events and weekday news wraps.

Have a nice weekend!

Upcoming Events

• The next session of the Joint International Humanitarian Law Forum takes place on December 5, 2012 at the IDC Radzyner School of Law. Dr. Ben Clarke will discuss his new article “Beyond the Call of Duty: Integration of International Humanitarian Law in Video Games and Battlefield Training Simulators”. More information can be found here.

Calls for Papers

• The International Community Law Review has issued a call for papers for a special issue of its 2013 volume, to be edited by Professor Duncan French (University of Lincoln) and Dr. Russell Buchan (University of Sheffield). The focus of the Special Issue will be to assess to what extent recent case-law has seen a doctrinal restatement of international law by the International Court of Justice and other tribunals, with little regard to the complex and modern pressures upon States. Areas of the law that have seen restatement, if not retrenchment, include the use of force, State immunity and self-determination, as well as arguably a conservative view of the consensual jurisdiction of the Court. Equally, other commentators may wish to critique this understanding. Authors wishing to contribute an article to the Special Issue should submit an abstract of no more than 400 words to Dr. Russell Buchan by 18 February 2013. Authors will be informed by 1 March 2013 as to whether their abstract has been accepted. Subsequently, contributors will be required to submit their articles (approximately 10, 000 words in length) to the editors no later than 1 July 2013.
• The Amsterdam Centre for European Law and Governance (ACELG) is calling PhD candidates and postdoctoral researchers, from the fields of political science, law, sociology, and international relations to participate in a workshop on European and transnational rulemaking. The workshop will take place in Amsterdam between July 1-5, 2013. Applications are due by January 15, 2013 and more information can be found here.
• The Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University Washington College of Law is calling for papers of its annual Human Rights Essay Award Competition. The competition seeks to stimulate the production of scholarly work in international human rights law. The 2013 topic is The Rights of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered People and International Human Rights Law. Participants have the flexibility to choose any subject related to the assigned topic. The best articles may be published in the American University International Law Review. The Academy will grant two Awards, best English article and best Spanish article. The Award in each case will consist of a scholarship to the Academy’s Program of Advanced Studies; travel expenses to Washington D.C.; housing at the university dorms; and a per diem for living expenses.

Journal Announcements

Volume XXI (2011) of The Italian Yearbook of International Law is out. It features a symposium on the international law questions arising from the Libyan crisis and a focus section analysing and discussing certain aspects of the ICJ Judgment in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy). The articles by M. Mancini, The Day After: Prosecuting International Crimes Committed in Libya, and, R. Pavoni, An American Anomaly? On the ICJ’s Selective Reading of United States Practice in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State, are available here.

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.

This week on Opinio Juris, Kevin Jon Heller wrote about Niger’s offer to extradite Saadi Gaddafi to the ICC, should this be requested. Kevin also discussed the conditions attached by the UK for a vote in favour of Palestine’s “non-member state” bid in the UN General Assembly. The requirement that the Palestinian authority does not apply for ICC or ICJ membership most likely proved to be a dealbreaker, as the UK ultimately abstained. Following the vote, Kevin argued that Palestine can accept the ICC’s jurisdiction retroactively by making a simple declaration, which triggered a long discussion in the comments.

Membership of international courts was also discussed by Julian Ku, who pointed to Colombia’s decision to withdraw from the 1948 Bogota Treaty’s provision granting jurisdiction to the ICJ over disputes between the parties. Further on Latin American states and international courts, Julian posted a link to his Forbes.com op-ed on Argentina’s arguments against Ghana concerning the seizure of the ARA Libertad, and a link to the webcast of the oral hearings on the case at the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea.

Two of our bloggers were critical of reporting by the Associated Press. First, Julian argued that the AP’s conclusion that Columbia’s withdrawal from the ICJ does not reduce the ICJ’s authority was incorrect. Kevin also put AP to shame over a fraudulent graph used to report Iran’s alleged efforts to build a nuclear weapon.

Ken Anderson drew our attention to a report by Human Rights Watch and the Harvard Law School Human Rights Clinic calling for a ban on autonomous weapons systems, and contrasted this with the conclusion he and Matthew Waxman have reached in a recent policy essay. In a related post he discussed the incremental approach advanced by a DOD Directive on the topic, released almost simultaneously as the HRW Report.

Efforts to create a legal framework for targeted killings prompted Deborah Pearlstein to ask what the end game is and what strategy determines the choice of targets. Ken chimed in with excerpts from a speech delivered on Friday by DOD General Counsel Jeh Johnson. Deborah followed up by welcoming Johnson’s reflections about the need to challenge the assumption of war as the new normal.

In a guest post, Chris Jenks argued that the negotiations of a status of forces agreement between the US and Afghanistan are likely to stumble over the question of foreign criminal jurisdiction over US service members, as they did in Iraq.

In other posts, Peter Spiro questioned the motives behind Spain’s decision to extend citizenship to Sephardic Jews whose ancestors were expelled 500 years ago, and contrasted this with the stringent naturalization requirements for Moroccan migrants, and Kevin linked to a summary of the Lago Agrio case.

As always, we also provided you with daily news wraps.

Have a nice weekend!

• As expected, the UN General Assembly Resolution granting non-member state status to Palestine passed on Thursday. Israel’s UN ambassador has called it a “reward for terrorism“. This article compares the votes of the European nations on Palestine’s UNESCO membership last year, and this year’s vote, and concludes that European support shifted towards the Palestinian authority.
• Private Bradley Manning took the stand today at the third day of the hearings in the Wikileaks case.
• UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon has recommended that the UN approve an African Union mission to enforce the peace in Northern Mali, but has stopped short of committing funding.
• Ban-Ki Moon also has urged nations to take in Iranian dissidents.
• The UN’s IPCC has reported at the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Doha that the evidence for man-made climate change is becoming stronger.
• A first round of negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC rebels has come to a cautiously optimistic conclusion.
• A Russian court has limited access to the Pussy Riot video, arguing that they are extremist and should be banned under hate speech laws.

• The UNGA is expected to recognize Palestine as a “non-member” state during a vote today.
• Following massive protests earlier this week in Cairo, the Assembly drafting the new Egyptian Constitution has vowed to publish, and vote on, a draft today.
• The US is considering options to intervene more strongly in the Syrian conflict, while the EU has renewed its sanctions for another three months leaving the door open for a closer involvement after March 1.
• China will give police in its Southern Hainan province broader powers to board and search vessels that it considers to have invaded Chinese territorial waters, in a move that may stir further tension in the South China Sea.
• Pakistan’s foreign minister has announced that military and intelligence relations with the US have been fully restored.
• After a 16 months inquiry following the phone hacking scandal at News of the World, the Leveson report on the regulation of the press is released in the UK today.
• After almost six months in Ecuador’s embassy in London, Julian Assange is reportedly suffering from a lung infection.
• The ICTY Trial Chamber has acquitted Haradinaj, Balaj, and Brahimaj on retrial.

• In Syria, rebel forces have for the first time downed a government helicopter using a surface-to-air missile they acquired during the recent capture of an army base.
• The EU is reviewing its sanctions on Syria, and the UK, with France’s backing, is arguing for a review every three months to make it easier to arm the opposition.
• The head of the Palestinian commission investigating the death of Yasser Arafat has stated that the Palestinian state would go to the ICC, should it be established that Arafat was poisoned.
• In Eastern Congo, M23 rebels have started withdrawing from Goma after a deal was reached in Kampala, Uganda.
• Satellite images suggest that North Korea is planning a new missile test, possibly to coincide with the South Korean Presidential election on December 19.
• The US Treasury has declined to label China a currency manipulator, despite finding that the yuan remains significantly undervalued.
• China is considering relaxing its “one child policy” to deal with the challenges of a rapidly greying population.
• Stirred into action by protests over the death of Indian immigrant Savita Halappanavar following the refusal of an abortion, the Irish government has announced that it will make a decision before the end of the year about the admissibility of abortion.
• The European Commission and the European Parliament are discussing stricter rules for credit rating agencies.
• In a move criticised by environmental groups, the European Commission has decided to back certain palm oil products as sustainable transport fuels.

• Australia will abstain in the upcoming UN vote on whether to grant non-member state status to Palestine.
• The body of Yasser Arafat will be exhumed in Ramallah today, to determine whether his death was the result of polonium poisoning.
• Ehud Barak, Israel’s Minister of Defence, has announced his retirement from politics.
• A map of China on new Chinese passports is controversial with its neighbours as it incorporates disputed areas in the South China Sea. Several neighbours are refusing to stamp the passports or are stamping them with their own version of the map.
• The EU has warned Georgia to respect the rule of law during investigations into the alleged wrongdoing by the recently ousted government.
• The IMF and the Eurozone finance ministers have reached a deal to reduce Greek debt.
• The EU has warned Russia over a series of import measures that the EU claims violate WTO rules.
• In WTO debates earlier this week, China has been critical of Brazil’s proposals of using WTO rules to respond to currency misalignment.

• The 18th session of the Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change kicks off today in Doha, Qatar, for a last ditch effort to negotiate new emission reductions before the current ones expire at the end of the year. The Guardian has an article about what to expect.
• The BBC has an article about Mahmoud Abbas’ (non-)role in the recent Gaza conflict and the impact thereof on the upcoming UN vote on observer status for Palestine. Abbas has called on Britain to support the Palestinian bid, invoking Britain’s historic responsibility as the former colonial power.
• The EU has moved a step closer towards compiling a black list of “known violent” Israeli settlers who would be forbidden to enter any of the EU Member States.
• China has successfully landed a fighter jet on its first aircraft carrier.
• Two suicide bombs have been detonated at a church inside military barracks in Northern Nigeria, killing eleven.
• The New York Times reports on the growing panel of defense lawyers at the NY Bar specialized in terrorism cases.
• The European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo has arrested a former commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army for war crimes.
• Negotiations on a free trade agreement between the US and the EU are reportedly gaining momentum.

Posting was light this week due to the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. We hope all our US readers had a very happy Thanksgiving holiday!

Peter Spiro commented on the territorialist approach in Obama’s speech on citizenship during this week’s visit to Burma.

Deborah Pearlstein posted about the ABA’s recent journalists’ guide on national security law, to which she contributed a chapter on international law in US courts.

Kristen Boon reported on the UN Security Council’s debate on maritime piracy, and the resulting presidential statement, and wondered about the role of the Security Council in this area. Continuing on this “watery” theme, Ken Anderson wrote about a new set of amendments agreed by Mexico and the US to the 1944 Colorado River Pact and Julian Ku blogged again about Argentina’s claim under the UNCLOS against the seizure of its naval training ship in Ghana. In his post, he agreed with Matthew Happold’s argument that the ITLOS does not jurisdiction because this is not an UNCLOS question.

Julian also pointed out that Colombia is already looking for alternative legal mechanisms to resist this week’s ICJ judgment in its dispute with Nicaragua, and was critical of the suggestion by Geoffrey Robertson QC that international law might be able to resolve the Iran nuclear crisis.

Kevin Jon Heller posted about an interview with Judge Sow about the Charles Taylor trial. Further on Africa, Ken Anderson discussed how the UN is considering deploying surveillance drones in Eastern Congo.

As always, we listed upcoming events and provided daily news wraps. Our readers may also be interested in the job of Assistant Dean for International Affairs at the University of Michigan Law School, mentioned by Peter.