Actress and U.N. Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has a useful and intelligent op-ed in today's Washington Post arguing in favor of international criminal justice in Darfur. But she's wrong or at least misguided. And she is not alone. Here is her argument: Until the killers and their sponsors are prosecuted and punished, violence will continue on a massive scale. Ending it may...
As advertised, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has released the ICC's first two indictments arising out of its investigation of war crimes in the Darfur region of Sudan. As the BBC reports, the ICC has named Ahmad Muhammad Harun, former Minister of State for the Interior of the Government of the Sudan and the current Minister...
OK, I admit I haven't read all 351 pages of the ICJ's judgment in the Bosnia Genocide case. This is a rich and potentially important decision. But here are some initial observations and reactions, along with (after the jump), some key excerpts from the ICJ's opinion. (1) The key headline holding is that Serbia (the state) is not...
The ICJ has released its judgment in the Case Concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro). The Court affirmed it had jurisdiction and found that although Serbia could not be held responsible for genocide, Serbia had violated its obligations under the Genocide Convention...
OK, it's not quite 1780 all over again, but the NYT reports that the U.S. and France have joined forces to protest the application of London's "congestion" pricing scheme to employees of their respective embassies. The U.S-French position (which is joined by a number of other countries) is buttressed by the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. I believe the...
As I mentioned earlier, the International Court of Justice will be announcing its judgment in the Bosnia-Serbia genocide case on Monday, February 26, at 10 a.m. GMT +1:00. The following day, Tuesday, February 27, at 14:00 GMT +1:00, the International Criminal Court will announce its first indictments in the Sudan Darfur investigations. The question for the ICC will...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit has dismissed a habeas petition by a number of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, holding that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 deprives federal courts of jurisdiction over these detainees' cases. (The opinion is uploaded here). The majority also finds that there is no Suspension Clause problem in the...
As the BBC reports, "a meeting in Washington of global political leaders has reached a new agreement on tackling climate change." The meeting included representatives from the key non-Kyoto Treaty countries, the U.S. and China. So have we finally reached a breakthrough on global climate change policy? Nope. At least not yet. The meeting in Washington D.C....
Although many New Yorkers wouldn't blink an eye if it happened, NY City Mayor Mike Bloomberg is worried that the United Nations may move its headquarters away from New York City, according to this report. Bloomberg is trying to meet with Secretary of State Rice to get her help on this matter. If the U.N. leaves town, where would...
Prof. Jon Adler of Case Western is liveblogging Human Rights Watch's Kenneth Roth as he delivers a lecture at Case Western Reserve University Law School. He addresses many topics, but here is one we tackled here on this blog last summer. Roth defended HRW against charges of bias in its reporting on the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. According to Roth, HRW’s allegations...
Although details are still forthcoming (see the early AP report here), it looks like North Korea has agreed to some kind of deal to shut down its main nuclear reactor and eventually dismantle its nuclear weapons program. It sounds like a pretty good deal for the North Koreans, who get lots of energy assistance in exchange for promising...
Is there really much suspense about the likely outcome of the ICJ's decision in the genocide application brought by Bosnia against Serbia? Not much. Indeed, there are signs that the governments in question already know the result and (the losing ones at least) are preparing their arguments against the ICJ's legitimacy and authority. The Republika Srpska, the Bosnian...
