In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Julian Ku

04 Mar

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced (h/t Jurist) proposals to circumscribe the applicability of Britain's universal jurisdiction law.  The modification will likely cut back on the ability of private citizens to seek arrest warrants, by requiring a determination by a public prosecutor before issuing such warrants.  The details are not clear, but the policy underlying it is: There is already growing...

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04 Mar

Two different but interesting views of Australia's threat to bring Japan to the ICJ over whaling. Over at The Jurist, Don Rothwell of Australian National University provides some background and legal context for Australia's lawsuit. As I understand it, Australia could claim that Japan is actually violating Australia's 200 mile exclusive economic zone (assuming certain Australian Antarctic claims were accepted).  But...

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04 Mar

Last fall, the U.S. joined Egypt in a carefully worded statement in favor of free expression, but it raised concerns that the U.S. was implicitly endorsing the movement in many Islamic countries to ban blasphemous (or anti-Islamic) speech.   In an otherwise anodyne address to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs...

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27 Feb

The BBC reports: The European Court of Justice has ruled that Israeli goods made in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank cannot be considered Israeli. This means goods made by Israelis or Jews in the West Bank cannot benefit from a trade deal giving Israel preferential access to EU markets. At first glance, this seems like the correct result, especially given the...

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27 Feb

Our own Ken Anderson is one of the most knowledgeable and thoughtful legal scholars on the question of targeted killings by the United States. And he has noted here and the Volokh Conspiracy, he has developed a complex analysis of the U.S. policy toward targeted killings, which grounds such killings in the international law of self-defense rather than the law...

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26 Feb

[caption id="attachment_10102" align="alignright" width="101" caption=" "][/caption] This coming Monday and Tuesday, Opinio Juris will be hosting its fourth online symposium in partnership with the Yale Journal of International Law. Each day, we will be hosting a series of posts revolving around Articles published in YJIL’s most recent Vol. 34-2, which is available for download here. On Monday, Michael J. Glennon of the Fletcher School...

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25 Feb

I've heard that the docket for the European Court of Human Rights is out of control, but a backlog of 120,000* cases is a little ridiculous. There is no doubt about the seriousness of the situation in Strasbourg. Jean-Paul Costa, president of the European Court of Human Rights, has referred to it as extremely disturbing. The parliamentary assembly of the Council of...

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24 Feb

It is amazing how much effort has been expended in countries like Japan and Australia to argue about whaling.  It is fascinating from say, a realist perspective, since it is hard to imagine that either side has any real meaningful national interest.  And as far as I can tell, Australia's government is acting on essentially moral grounds, which is er,...

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24 Feb

The invaluable "Turtle Bay" Blog points me to this recent Gallup poll on the U.S. public's view of the United Nations. I'm a bit surprised the UN polls so badly (26 percent is pretty low).  Then again, Americans are a tough lot. Congress rates even lower, and President Obama is heading in this direction.  So the UN is actually doing quite...

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24 Feb

Despite all the grumbling from NGOs, there does appear to be some modest progress toward more peace and stability in Sudan. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has signed a framework ceasefire deal with one of Darfur's main rebel groups, the Justice and Equality Movement (Jem). The power-sharing agreement in Qatar is seen as an important step towards peace, though the other main rebel...

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24 Feb

Emerging disputes over oil drilling and natural gas exploration in the Falklands should provide an ideal test case for international dispute resolution. Argentina appears to be ready to contest UK drilling for hydrocarbons in the Falklands' exclusive economic zone. Britain rejected Argentine objections to oil exploration off the disputed Falkland Islands on Tuesday, saying the drilling was within international law. Argentine President...

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