In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

22 Mar

Over the past couple of years, a number of scholars -- including me -- have debated whether IHL implicitly authorises detention in non-international armed conflict (NIAC.) The latest important intervention in the debate comes courtesy of Daragh Murray in the Leiden Journal of International Law. As the article's abstract makes clear, Murray is firmly in the "IHL authorises" camp: On the basis of...

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19 Mar

Last week, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) sent shockwaves through the international community by issuing a report that -- for the first time in UN history -- claims Israel's treatment of Palestinians amounts to the crime of apartheid. Here is ESCWA's description of the report, entitled “Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid,"...

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18 Mar

This morning President Trump tweeted that "Germany owes vast sums of money to NATO & the United States must be paid more for the powerful, and very expensive, defense it provides to Germany!" But that's not how NATO commitments work. And so this afternoon, former US Ambassador to NATO Ivo Daalder gave President Trump a tutorial in nine tweets. Maybe we can...

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11 Mar

It is difficult to overstate the horrors the US inflicted on Cambodia from the air during the Vietnam War: 230,000 sorties involving 113,000 different sites; 500,000 tonnes of bombs, as much as the US dropped in the entire Pacific theatre during WW II; at least 50,000, and probably closer to 150,000, innocent civilians killed. Even worse, that bombing campaign, along with...

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10 Mar

[Alonso Illueca is Adjunct Professor of International Law at Universidad Católica Santa María La Antigua (Panama) and holds an LL.M. from Columbia University, where he specialised in Public International Law. His main fields of research include recognition of states and governments, the law of treaties, and the use of force. Sophocles Kitharidis is a sessional academic at Monash University and...

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09 Mar

PHAP -- Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection -- is advertising two positions in Geneva that might be of interest to readers. The first is Policy Coordinator: The International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) is looking for an experienced policy professional to support the association’s efforts to foster new perspectives on critical issues affecting the humanitarian sector...

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27 Feb

A terrific event is coming up in NYC Friday,  March 10, 2017, 6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the New York City Bar.   Ian Johnstone, Jacob Katz Cogan, Thomas G. Weiss,  and Anjali Dayal will discuss the Future of International Organizations.  The Moderator will be Mona Khalil of Independent Diplomat. The speakers are editors and contributors to the Oxford Handbook of International Organizations. This...

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27 Feb

[Ralph Janik is a researcher at the University of Vienna Faculty of Law, Department of European, International and Comparative Law.] The presidency of Donald Trump obviously has a manifest impact on international law. After all, he and his administration do not seem to be overly interested in observing international law. Does Trump’s “America First”-policy ultimately imply a comeback of Hegel’s conceptualization of...

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23 Feb

Apparently, being named Charles and having vast military experience is all the rage in the blogosphere these days. Last week I mentioned Charles Blanchard's new blog. And this week I want to spruik Charles Dunlop's new(ish) blog, Lawfire. Charlie is a retired Major General in the US Air Force (where he served, inter alia, as Deputy Judge Advocate General) and currently serves as Executive...

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21 Feb

[Dr. Mohamed Helal is an Assistant Professor of Law, Moritz College of Law & Affiliated Faculty, Mershon Center for International Security Studies – The Ohio State University. From 2002-2003 Dr. Helal was a member of the Cabinet of the Secretary-General of the Arab League, and from 2005-2009 he served on the Cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt,...

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20 Feb

Last March, the ICRC released an updated Commentary on the First Geneva Convention of 1949 (GCI), the first installment of six new Commentaries aimed at bringing the interpretation of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols of 1977 to the 21st century. The updated Commentaries serve as an interpretive compass emerging from more than 60 years of application and interpretation of the...

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