In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Julian Ku

12 May

The European Court of Human Rights issued a ruling today finding that Turkey's trial of Abdullah Ocalan, the former leader of the Kurdish independence group the PKK (which many Turks view as terrorist), violated the European Convention on Human Rights' guarantees of a fair trial. The trial of Ocalan is a big deal in Turkey and this ruling is not...

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12 May

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, gave a speech on Monday at Stanford that has drawn some criticism for its vaguely threatening reference to an Inspector General of the federal courts. What is interesting about the speech hoever, is that one of Sensenbrenner's main beefs with the judiciary is its citation of foreign and international law...

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11 May

A coalition of institutional investors and other non-govermental organizations are calling on U.S. corporations to disclose (or be required to disclose) economic risks from climate change and global warming. The highlights:A New Climate Risk Disclosure Initiative will be aimed at enhancing corporations’ climate risk disclosure. The effort will focus on disclosure of corporate emissions, climate actions, scenario analysis, strategic analysis,...

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11 May

The International Herald Tribune has a nice report on the increasing criticism of the East Timor-Indonesia Agreement to set up a Truth and Friendship Commission, which we discussed here. Here again we see a clash between the UN and human rights NGOs (who think the agreement could lead to impunity for human rights offenses) and efforts by two countries to...

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10 May

This is not a joke. According to this report in the NYT, the UN is considering moving temporarily to Brooklyn while its Manhattan headquarters is renovated. While some may see this as a step down for the UN, others (quoted in the article) suggest that the embattled UN will fit right in with Brooklyn's underdog image. Maybe in the old...

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10 May

NAFTA included a set of side agreements intended to alleviate concerns about the environmental effects of the trade regime. One of the results of these side agreements, the Commission for Environmental Cooperation, has agreed to review a proposal for a Liquified Natural Gas project off the coast of Tijuana and San Diego. The complaint is brought by citizens' groups, not...

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10 May

Not to beat a dead horse, but the ICJ's announcement yesterday that it will hold public hearings in June to examine some preliminary aspects of a case filed in 2002 by the Democratic Republic of Congo against Rwanda further illustrates the slowness of the ICJ dispute resolution process. The original complaint was filed in the summer of 2002. These hearings...

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09 May

The United Nations Independent Inquiry Committee investigating the UN Oil for Food Scandal (better known as the Volcker Commission) won at temporary restraining order today from the U.S. District Court in D.C. quashing congressional subpoenas ordering one of Volcker's former investigators to turn over documents from his investigations. The TRO will apparently last 10 days allowing the Volcker Commission...

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08 May

I wasn't around last week to note these potentially interesting international law-based challenges to the UK's involvement in the Iraq War.First, a group representing the families of UK soldiers has filed a claim against the UK government (timed no doubt in an attempt to further influence the UK elections on Friday) under Article 2 of the European Convention of Human...

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04 May

Today is an important anniversary in modern Chinese history. In 1919, thousands of Chinese students marched in Beijing and throughout China to protest the terms of the Paris Peace talks that led to Japanese control of German concessions in China. The "May Fourth" movement was the seminal political and intellectual event of the early 20th Century. Of course, the...

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04 May

A couple of us are out of town this week, thus blogging has been slow this week. Apologies. I will be back to full-time blogging next week. Indeed, I have gone almost 72 hours without logging on to the internet. It is nearly killing me, but my wife tells me this is good for me. I'll be...

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30 Apr

Chris and I had a nice little exchange a few weeks ago about a speech made by former State Department Legal Adviser William Taft IV that criticized the U.S. detention policy in Guantanamo Bay. Today's Guardian has a long expose alleging that Taft, and other U.S. lawyers, were involved in pressuring the UK's attorney general to change his mind over...

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