In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

02 Jan

Although aggression received most of the attention at the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) last month, the ASP also adopted a series of amendments to Art. 8 of the Rome Statute, the war-crimes provision, prohibiting the use of three kinds of weapons in both international armed conflict (IAC) and non-international armed conflict (NIAC): [W]eapons, which use microbial or other biological agents, or...

|
22 Dec

The Guardian is reporting today that Carter Page -- Donald Trump's bumbling former foreign-policy advisor, who has been interviewed quite extensively by the FBI regarding his contacts with Russia -- earned a PhD from SOAS in 2011 after failing his defence twice. Here are some snippets from the story: Page first submitted his thesis on central Asia’s transition from communism to capitalism in...

|
15 Dec

A friend who is even more jaded than I called my attention to the following curious paragraph in the Draft Resolution the ASP has just adopted by consensus: 3.    Reaffirms paragraph 1 of article 40 and paragraph 1 of article 119 of the Rome Statute in relation to the judicial independence of the judges of the Court. This paragraph is new --...

|
14 Dec

A new document is being circulated at the Assembly of States Parties entitled "Draft Resolution: Activation of the jurisdiction of the Court over the crime of aggression." Operative Provision 1(b) seems to indicate that the opt-out camp, led by Liechtenstein, has conceded the jurisdictional point to the opt-in camp, led by Japan, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Here is the text of OP1(b): (b)   ...

|
13 Dec

The US submission to the ASP has finally appeared. It is not very long -- about 1.5 pages -- but manages to pack in a good number of false claims and bizarre interpretations of the Rome Statute. In terms of falsity, the US repeats its longstanding claim that the Court has no jurisdiction over the nationals of non-state parties, even when those...

|
11 Dec

Although many important issues will be discussed this week at the Assembly of States Parties (ASP), none will be quite so momentous as the decision to activate the ICC's jurisdiction over the crime of aggression. Whatever one thinks of the merits of the definition of aggression, there is no question that the activation of jurisdiction will represent the culmination of...

|
05 Dec

Reminder: Deadline for Applications for Seventh Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law—May 28, 29 and 30, 2018 This is a brief reminder that applications for the Seventh Annual Junior Faculty Forum for International Law are due on Dec. 15, 2017. The Forum will be convened by Anne Orford (Law – Melbourne), Dino Kritsiotis (Law – Nottingham) and J.H.H. Weiler (Law –...

|
28 Nov

I am proud of many of my former students, but the one I am most proud of is Golriz Ghahraman, who took my international criminal law course many years ago at the University of Auckland and is still a dear friend. In the years since my course, Golriz has worked on the Karadzic case, earned an MSt in human rights from Oxford,...

|
24 Nov

Following on the heels of the much-reported e-mail scandal, FICHL has released a policy brief entitled "A Prosecutor Falls, Time for the Court to Rise" that is an utterly damning indictment of Luis Moreno-Ocampo's tenure at the ICC. Here is a taste of the report, which picks up not long after the Court became operative: This idyllic mood in the OTP continued through...

|
19 Nov

Just a reminder that the deadline is fast approaching for the workshop I am organising with Ingo Venzke, “Contingency in the Course of International Law: How International Law Could Have Been.” The workshop, which will feature an opening address by Fleur Johns (UNSW) and a closing address by Sam Moyn (Yale), will be held over two half days and one full day from June 14-16,...

|