Next month, the University of Maryland School of Law will host a festshcrift honoring Professor Hungdah Chiu. Professor Chiu was a professor at U. Maryland and a well-known scholar of international law. He also was one of the first, and still one of the most important, scholars on the study of Chinese law (including both China and Taiwan) in the...
Ah, the U.N., such a complicated organization that almost never speaks with one voice. Hence, while the panel appointed by the Secretary-General found the Israeli blockade of Gaza legal, the panel appointed by the Human Rights Council has found the opposite. GENEVA (Reuters) - Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip violates international law, a panel of human rights experts reporting to...
Well, the Center for Constitutional Rights certainly thinks so Human rights lawyers and victims of clergy sexual abuse filed a complaint on Tuesday urging the International Criminal Court in The Hague to investigate and prosecute Pope Benedict XVI and three top Vatican officials for crimes against humanity for what they described as abetting and covering up the rape and sexual assault...
Apparently, Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma is blocking the nomination of Dean Janet Levit, of University of Tulsa Law School, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The Daily Oklahoman reports: Oklahoma City attorney Mike Turpen, a longtime Democratic Party fundraiser with ties to the White House, said Coburn told him in July that Levit was not going to receive his...
Like many Americans, especially those of us living or working in New York City at the time, I have very personal and powerful memories of the September 11, 2001 attacks. I will spare our readers my own reminiscences, however, and stick to something a little more relevant to this blog's subject matter: the international law of armed conflict. While many pundits...
I've been attending (and will be speaking) at a conference at Case Western Reserve University Law School in Cleveland entitled "International Law in Crisis." You can catch the webcast here. A brief description below. 2011 is shaping up to be one of the most turbulent years in history. This timely symposium is designed to examine both the application of international law...
Since neither state has accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ, I am curious how this report could possible be accurate: A senior Iranian diplomat said that Tehran has filed a lawsuit against Russia after the latter backed out of delivering anti-aircraft S-300 missile system to the Islamic Republic, Tehran's Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. Iran's Ambassador to Russia Seyed Mahmoud...
In her typically graceful and accessible style, Prof. Anne-Marie Slaughter has a series of posts at The Atlantic defending a redefinition of state sovereignty under international law (especially in the wake of Libya). A taste of her thoughts can be seen in this graph. So it is international law itself -- or rather the governments that bring it into being --...
Turkey-Israel relations have hit a new low after the release of the U.N. Report on the Flotilla. Actually, Turkey seems to be the one most angry with the report, and it is taking it out on Israel, by demanding an apology and expelling Israel's ambassador. Turkish bluster also seems to have manifested itself in an empty, meaningless threat to take...
Well, at least one student at UCLA will have story to beat all others. AN NAWFALIYAH, LIBYA // At the centre of a circle of cheering rebel soldiers near Colonel Muammar Qaddafi’s hometown this week stood an improbable figure who gives new meaning to the term “road trip”. Chris Jeon, a 21-year-old university student from Los Angeles, California,shrugging cooly, declared: “It is...
I've lost track of the enormously complex series of disputes between Chevron and Ecuador. It stems from lawsuits brought against Chevron in Ecuadorian courts, and then attempts to enforce them in the U.S. (and attempts to block the enforcement). And there are Chevron's various claims in arbitration tribunals against Ecuador. For a little background, see Roger's post here. . On this...
From the NYT: UNITED NATIONS — A United Nations review has found that Israel’s naval blockade of Gaza is legal and appropriate but that the way its forces boarded a Turkish-based flotilla trying to break that blockade 15 months ago, killing nine passengers, was excessive and unreasonable. Take it away, Kevin!...
