The ASIL Mid-Year Research Forum has fast become known as one of the best workshopping opportunities for new and established international law scholars alike. It was launched by Kal Raustiala in 2011 at the Mid-Year meeting in LA, moved to Athens, Georgia in 2012, northwards to New York in 2013, and this year will take place in Chicago from November...
Over the last two decades, the key policy question surrounding multilateral sanctions has been effectiveness. Because of studies that suggest that sanctions are effective only about one-third of the time, there has been a concerted effort to develop so-called “smart sanctions,” which increase the effectiveness of Security Council sanctions at the front end by targeting specific groups, individuals, and entities....
There is an interesting interview with Professor Walter Kahlin, former Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, on disaster displacement over at the IPI’s Global Observatory. He discusses why the current international law regime on refugees is incomplete when it comes to displacement. He explains: Back in 2010, Haiti was hit by one of the most...
As widely reported in the press last week, President Obama announced sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials. On Thursday, March 20, the “blacklist” was expanded to 2 banks and 20 officials, as detailed in this press release from the US Treasury. Separately, the EU imposed sanctions on 21 individuals, including Russian military commanders. The U.S. goals, President Obama said,...
There have been some interesting developments this past week regarding the legal proceedings against the UN following the outbreak of cholera in Haiti in 2010. For background on this tragic and politically sensitive case see my prior posts here, here, here and here. Readers will recall that efforts to obtain compensation for the victims moved to US courts in October 2013,...
In December 2013, the UN Secretary General launched a new Human Rights initiative called “Rights Up Front”. Primarily a coordination tool for the UN Secretariat, the plan outlines six actions that can help the UN system meet its responsibilities regarding human rights: Action 1: Integrating human rights into the lifeblood of staff, so that they understand what the UN's mandates and...
Last week at the American Association of Law Schools (AALS) annual conference I had the honor of speaking on a panel on UN Law Making, with Mahnoush Arsanjani, formerly of the UN Secretariat, Kimberly Prost, Ombudsperson for the Al Qaida sanctions regime, and Pablo Castillo-Diaz, of UN Women. A summary of the matters discussed by the panel is available here. Our...
Most reporting on the nuclear agreement with Iran has tended to generalize about the types of sanctions and the impact of the deal on these various measures, so it would be easy to assume that United Nations sanctions are being eased or lifted, but this is not the case. The deal primarily eases unilateral sanctions by the United States and...
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the U.S. government agency that regulates offshore fishing, has proposed a new set of regulations to reduce bycatch of Bluefin tuna by economic disincentive. The Washington Post reports that: “Under the proposal, the NMFS would sharply cut back the number of bluefin tuna that individual fishing vessels are allowed to capture accidentally, setting a quota...
On Tuesday, Saudia Arabia made official its rejection of a highly sought after seat on the UN Security Council in a letter to the President of the General Assembly. The letter confirmed in writing its surprise decision of October 18 (announced less than 24 hours after its election) to forgo a prestigious seat on the Council. The letter now enables...
International lawyers here in New York are gearing up for ASIL’s mid-year Meeting. The program is available here, which kicks off tonight with a reception and talk at the UN. I’m delighted to have co-chaired the Research Forum with Tim Meyer from Georgia this year. Tim and I assembled a wonderful Research Forum Committee this year, who conducted a double-blind selection...
After receiving a staunch “no” from the UN earlier this year, lawyers for Haiti Cholera victims filed a class action lawsuit in the Southern District of New York today. The complaint is available here. The complaint seeks certification of a class that is composed of cholera victims who are Haitian and US citizens. The basis of the class action is...
