In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Julian Ku

16 May

Armenian-American groups are up in arms over the U.S. government's decision to file an amicus brief against a California law allowing claims against insurance companies by "Armenian genocide victims."  But they shouldn't be. The law really involves an ongoing constitutional powers debate between the states and the federal government over foreign affairs, and the U.S. government is siding (not surprisingly)...

|
12 May

The WSJ Saturday edition has a long review essay by distinguished historian Ian Buruma providing some historical perspective on the close to hot Chinese-Japanese conflict over the Senkaku Islands. It is a fascinating essay, and I was particularly struck by his argument that the Senkaku issue was essentially ignored by Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaopoing, whereas today's comparatively weaker Chinese...

|
09 May

An article in China's leading state-run paper, the People's Daily, suggesting that the time may be ripe to reopen the question of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa has already sparked sharp reactions.  The WSJ's blog on China picked up the story, as did this Business Insider post, headlined: "China Now Says It May Own Okinawa, Too." Other even more lurid headlines: "China Demands Japan Cede...

|
01 May

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights seems to be condemning the forced feeding of hunger-striking Guantanamo detainees as torture, or perhaps as cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment in violation of the Convention Against Torture. Force-feeding hunger strikers is a breach of international law, the UN’s human rights office said Wednesday, as US authorities tried to stem a...

|
01 May

This report out of Prensa Latina in Havana suggests that the ICJ has expressed some sort of positive opinion on quality of Bolivia's case against Chile. In a press conference, [Bolivian Foreign Minister] Choquehuanca announced the International Court notified Chile on the start of the process and reasserted the Bolivian will of not affecting the bilateral relations with Chile. He also said the...

|
29 Apr

Last week, the government of Bolivia filed an application in the International Court of Justice against Chile arguing that Chile has breached its "obligation to negotiate in good faith and effectively with Bolivia in order to reach an agreement granting Bolivia a fully sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean." Is it just me, or is this the weakest case ever filed at the...

|
26 Apr

Professor Craig Allen of University of Washington alerts me to this excerpt from the press conference held yesterday at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  It is the first time, as far as I know, that a Chinese government spokesman has offered a detailed explanation of China's legal position in the Philippines arbitration.   It still doesn't fully make sense, or...

|
25 Apr

New evidence that Syria has used chemical weapons against insurgents have spurred new calls here in the U.S. for military action in Syria.  Here is the LA Times (hardly an interventionist paper): An American or multilateral response should of course be proportional to the offense. That means considering whether chemical weapons were used against civilians or militants, and whether a "whole...

|
25 Apr

Yesterday, President of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, Shunji Yanai, announced the appointment of the final three members of the Annex VII UNCLOS tribunal. International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) President Shunji Yanai on April 24 transmitted a letter to Philippine Solicitor General Francis Jardeleza, head of the Philippine legal team on the arbitration...

|
23 Apr

Longtime readers know that I have often criticized (unfairly in many readers' eyes) the snail's pace of dispute resolution before the International Court of Justice.  I respect the ICJ as an institution, but I have never thought it has lived up to its potential as the "principal judicial organ" of the United Nations.  On the other hand, I will give...

|