Say this for the Australians — at least they're willing to admit that their participation in the Iraq war is about oil:The government has admitted the need to secure oil supplies is a factor in Australia's continued military involvement in Iraq. Defence Minister Brendan Nelson said today oil was a factor in Australia's contribution to the unpopular war, as "energy security"...
I have often criticized the ridiculously light sentences given to a number of U.S. soldiers convicted of serious war crimes in Iraq. I guess I should have been more careful what I wished for — the DOJ announced Tuesday that it is seeking the death penalty against Steven Green, a soldier accused of killing an Iraqi family and raping...
Dominic Ongwen is one of the five leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) who have been indicted by the ICC. Like the others, Ongwen is charged with numerous crimes against humanity, including the forcible recruitment of children "as fighters, porters and sex slaves to serve the LRA." The indictment makes a strong case that Ongwen is guilty of the...
They are:Sydney Opera House, Australia Old town of Corfu, Greece Red Fort Complex, India Bordeaux, France Volcanic island of Jeju, South Korea Iwami Ginzan silver mine, Japan Parthian fortresses of Nisa, Turkmenistan Samarra archaeological city, Iraq Rideau Canal, Canada Mehmed Pasa Sokolovic Bridge, Bosnia-Herzegovina Teide National Park, Spain Primeval beech forests of the Carpathian, Ukraine Lope-Okanda, Gabon Richtersveld Cultural and Botanical Landscape, South Africa Twyfelfontein, Namibia Diaolou villages in Kaiping, ChinaI hope that the new...
Today is the fifth anniversary of the Rome Statute's entry into force. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued the following statement:1 July 2007 marks the fifth anniversary of the entry into force of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The creation of the Court represents one of the major achievements in international law during the past century....
The verdict has been delivered in the Anfal trial -- and not surprisingly, "Chemical Ali" and his highest-ranking co-defendants have been convicted and sentenced to death:Ali Hassan al-Majid, Saddam's cousin and the former head of the Baath Party's Northern Bureau Command, earned his nickname for his alleged use of chemical weapons against the ethnic minority during efforts to crush a...
As regular readers know, Julian and I disagree about whether international law promotes or impedes the peacemaking process in war-torn countries. I do not believe that international law is an end in itself, and I acknowledge that in some situations the involvement of international organizations like the ICC can have negative consequences. But I question Julian's assumption that...
On October 16, 1975, the first full day of Indonesia's invasion of East Timor, five journalists — two British, two Australian, and one New Zealander — were killed in the border town of Balibo. The official Indonesian position has always been that the journalists were accidentally killed in a crossfire as they attempted to film Indonesia's invasion of the...
In what human-rights groups are describing as a landmark case, a military court in Rostov-on-Don has convicted four Russian soldiers — three in absentia — of murdering six unarmed civilians in Chechnya:The case has been followed closely in war-scarred Chechnya, where many are outraged that no one has been brought to justice for the January 2002 killing of a driver...
Human Rights Watch provides more information on François-Xavier Byuma's "trial":Byuma, who heads an organization for the defense of childrens’ rights known as Turengere Abana, had previously investigated allegations that Imanzi had raped a young girl. Imanzi was briefly detained and questioned but never prosecuted for rape. At a first hearing on the genocide charges, Byuma was present, but refused...
I have posted a new essay on SSRN entitled "Mistakes of Legal Element, the Common Law, and Article 32 of the Rome Statute: A Critical Analysis." Here is the abstract:Article 32(2) of the Rome Statute provides that "[a] mistake of law may… be a ground for excluding criminal responsibility if it negates the mental element required by such a...
The Los Angeles Times has a must-read article today about how the CIA has been using Sudanese nationals to spy on insurgents — including al-Qaida — in Iraq:The relationship underscores the complex realities of the post-Sept. 11 world, in which the United States has relied heavily on intelligence and military cooperation from countries, including Sudan and Uzbekistan, that are considered...
