In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Julian Ku

11 May

I wanted to point our readers to a terrific discussion at EJIL Talk! on our own Ken Anderson's recent article "The Rise of International Criminal Law: Intended and Unintended Consequences".  Ken's article "offers a high-altitude, high-speed look at the effects of international criminal law on other parts of public international law and organizations."  EJIL Talk! has solicited two very interesting...

|
10 May

Is there anything new or useful to say about "International Law and the Israeli-Arab Dispute"?  Well, a number of scholars (including Ken, Roger, and myself) will try to come up with something next Monday, May 17, during a conference at Northwestern University School of Law.  This is one of the few subjects intersecting international law where there is way too...

|
07 May

[caption id="attachment_12297" align="alignright" width="180" caption="Judge Thomas Buergenthal"][/caption] Sure, some guy named John Paul Stevens is retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court, but there is another big judicial resignation this spring to note. Thomas Buergenthal, the U.S. member of the International Court of Justice, has announced that he will not finish out his term on the court. I am breaking some news...

|
06 May

Last year, the Palestinian National Authority filed a declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.  This declaration is controversial, to say the least, because it could potentially give the ICC jurisdiction over Israeli military forces operating in Gaza or the West Bank.  Today, the ICC released a summary of the submissions it has received on whether the Palestinian's...

|
05 May

I hadn't been aware of this group, Human Rights at Home, which is seeking to "create a national political culture that supports and advocates for human rights."  In fact, they have some interesting ideas of how to reform U.S. legal infrastructure to implement U.S. international human rights obligations. revitalizing an Interagency Working Group on Human Rights to coordinate the efforts of the...

|
30 Apr

Fascinating video  of a Dutch Navy strike team recapturing a German vessel that had been captured by Somali pirates. It shows just how dangerous, expensive, and difficult it is to combat piracy.  It looks cool, but frankly, the Somali pirates have the Dutch and everyone else outnumbered.  There can't be that many of these kinds of strike teams and there...

|
29 Apr

This seems like a nice, uncontroversial way to buttress the ICC Prosecutor's Office: ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo today announced the appointment of Professor Jose Alvarez as his Office’s Special Advisor on International Law. “Professor Alvarez is one of the leading academics in international law,” said Prosecutor Moreno-Ocampo. “He has written extensively on the law-making powers of international organisations and on the...

|
29 Apr

Our own Ken Anderson joined a number of other law profs, including Prof. David Glazier, in testimony today before the National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to discuss, what else, the legality of U.S. targeted killings policy. Wired has a nice report summarizing the testimony, and the issues are already...

|