An Italian kidnapped by al-Qaeda insurgents in Algeria and held for 14 months has been freed in northern Mali. Denmark has established a Commission of Inquiry into its role in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. EJIL has an in-depth post about it here. The Arab League has urged Syria to implement the ceasefire plan after being briefed by Kofi Annan. The definition of piracy...
The US-backed Korean-American Jim Yong Kim was named the next president of the World Bank, in a move that drew criticism about the purported dominance of the post by the United States. The Philippines will take its dispute with China in the South China Sea to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). Meanwhile, Tokyo's governor wants to use public fund to purchase...
Former Argentine dictator Jorge Rafael Videla has admitted for the first time that the country's brutal 1976-1983 dictatorship "disappeared" leftist opponents and said babies were kidnapped from their parents. A team of six UN observers has gone to Syria, where despite both sides agreeing to a truce, violence is still raging. South Sudan has accused Sudan of indiscriminate bombing in a dispute...
This is our second installment of this new feature, last week's announcements can be found here. Calls for Papers McGill University, Faculty of Law, has issued a call for papers for its conference "Stateless Law? The Future of the Discipline" on September 27-28, 2012. Proposals are due on April 16, 2012. More information is here. The Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law...
China will begin delivering oil ships to Iran in May, two months ahead of a European ban on tankers carrying Iranian crude. Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said in an op-ed that Iran hopes for dialogue and trust from all sides going forward in nuclear talks and that it will be a process, not an event. The Guardian has an article...
Dioncounde Traore will be sworn in as Mali's interim president today and is tasked with pulling the nation in turmoil back on the right track. Syria has said it will comply with its truce deadlines today by halting military activity, but reserves its right to combat terrorist attacks. Kofi Annan says that Iran can be part of Syria's solution. In the wake...
A UN convoy carrying the head of the mission to Libya was targeted while traveling in Benghazi; no one was hurt but this incident raises questions about stability and security in the country. The General Counsel of the CIA, Stephen Preston, spoke yesterday at Harvard Law School about the agency the rule of law, including giving a hypothetical about the covert use...
The European Court of Human Rights has decided this morning that the UK can extradite Abu Hamza, a British citizen, and six other men to the US. Profiles of the men can be found here. The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, believes that LRA leader, Joseph Kony, will be captured this year. Turkey has accused Syria of firing across the border,...
Guatemala became the 121st state to join the Rome Statute system of the International Criminal Court last week. The statute will enter into force on July 1st, 2012. In other ICC news, Libya's justice minister has stated the country will not hand over Saif al-Islam Gaddafi to the Court, as it would rather try him in Libya. The UN-brokered Syrian ceasefire agreement...
The Tuareg separatists in Mali have ended their military operations. In response, a mediator claims that economic and diplomatic sanctions imposed by ECOWAS countries could soon be lifted. Foreign Policy has a context piece outlining how the war in terror created the current “Mess in Mali.” Additionally, there have been calls for independence for the Azawad region. FP looks at...
US President Barack Obama spoke in Seoul today, promising to pursue nuclear cuts, an issue he will push in a May meeting slated with incoming Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pakistan’s legislators are debating ties with the US, specifically with respect to re-opening NATO supply routes that have been closed since a US attack killed 24 soldiers in Pakistan last November. Iranian President Mahmoud...
The International Court of Justice issued two press releases about upcoming hearings in both the Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso/Niger), scheduled for October 8-17, 2012; and the Maritime Dispute (Peru v. Chile), scheduled for December 3-14, 2012. Reuters reports a three-way scramble for the upcoming World Bank presidential elections, with American economist Jeffrey Sachs registered as a candidate. African finance ministers have...
