In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

11 Feb

Because he says things like this: [The ICC] has not opened investigations with regard to Russia's alleged war crimes in Chechnya and Georgia, where thousands of innocent civilians were killed. Nor has it opened investigations with regard to Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, the Congo and other places where civilians are routinely targeted as part of military and terrorist campaigns. That will...

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09 Feb

John Louth at OUP has kindly alerted me to the existence of a new blog that will no doubt be of interest to our readers: the International Criminal Law Bureau. Members include well-known practitioners and scholars, including Steven Kay, QC, and Guénaël Mettraux (of whom I'm a big fan). The blog is part of a larger project by the same name. ...

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04 Feb

I rarely like – if that is even the right word – movies about the Holocaust.  Such movies almost invariably invite us to identify with a small number of Jews imprisoned in the concentration camps, turning the millions of others (unintentionally, to be sure) into a nameless, faceless backdrop of suffering that makes the fate of “our” Jews all the...

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29 Jan

Every law professor has that one edited book to which they wish they had contributed.  This one is mine.  The contributors read like a Who's Who of international criminal law: A.  Major Problems of International Criminal Justice Part I. How to Face International Crimes Collective Violence and International Crimes, A. Ceretti State Responsibility and Criminal Liability of Individuals, ...

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21 Jan

Philippe Sands and Dahlia Lithwick have kindly responded to my post about CAT and the prosecution of torture suspects.  Here is their response: We don't believe we are in disagreement on the approach to the obligation under CAT, under Articles 7(1) and (2). The obligation is to "submit the case to its competent authorities for the purpose of prosecution". What happens...

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19 Jan

There is a lively debate going on in the blogosphere about the legal impact of Eric Holder's statement that waterboarding is torture and Susan Crawford's conclusion that Mohammed al-Qahtani was tortured while in custody at Guantanamo Bay.  Does Holder's statement and Crawford's conclusion require the US to prosecute the interrogators who used waterboarding and the Bush administration officials who approved...

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16 Jan

Regular readers no doubt know that I am obsessed with the media's seemingly congenital inability to grasp the law and politics of the ICC.  My new favorite comes via the BBC, in an article about the impending arrest warrant for Bashir: Two Sudanese groups have formally requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to issue an arrest for President Omar al-Bashir. He...

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16 Jan

ICC silliness doesn't just affect the media.  States and NGOs suffer the malady, as well.  Case in point: the recent, repeated calls for the ICC to prosecute Israel for war crimes allegedly committed in Gaza. First up, Bolivia: "The Andean state says it is intended to make regional allies take a unified stance against "the Israeli political and military leaders responsible...

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13 Jan

My favorite Darfur blogger, Michelle at Stop Genocide, has asked me to post the following plea.  I am, of course, happy to oblige.  If you want to vote, vote soon -- the deadline is January 15 at 5 pm EST.  And please pass Michelle's request on to anyone else you think might be interested. I am writing today to seek your...

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10 Jan

OJ fellow-traveller Marko Milanovic has a typically excellent discussion of the newly-released secret OLC memos -- discussed in toto by Deb here -- concerning the legality of the invasion of Iraq.  I'd tell you to go read it, but if you haven't already added EJIL:Talk! to your RSS reader by now, there's really no saving you....

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