A fascinating ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court this morning in Zivotofsky v. Kerry, the case presenting the question whether Congress can mandate that U.S. citizens born (to American parents) in Jerusalem may have Israel listed on their passports as their place of birth. Since 1948, every U.S. president has carefully avoided opining in any context on the status of...
Long-awaited decision here finding the President to have exclusive recognition power, trumping Congress' attempt to require birthplace of US citizens born in Jerusalem to be recorded as "Israel" on US passports issued to them. 1. Phew. Who knows what the response would have been in the Middle East if the Court had come out the other way. Maybe nothing, but it's...
[Carsten Stahn is Professor of International Criminal Law and Global Justice and Programme Director of the Grotius Centre for International Studies.This two-part post is based on a talk given at the seminar on Reconciliation v. Accountability: Balancing Interests of Peace and Justice, organized by the Centre for International Law Research and Policy on 29 May 2015 at the Peace Palace.] Introduction Punishment...
Africa Mali's government and Tuareg-led rebels agreed on a ceasefire in a strategic town and on more political guarantees on Friday, steps towards a U.N.-brokered peace accord to end decades of uprisings in the northern region the separatists call Azawad. The United Nations' top human rights official called on Nigeria's new President Muhammadu Buhari on Friday to investigate reports of horrifying crimes...
Call for Papers PluriCourts, Centre of Excellence at the University of Oslo, is organizing an international symposium entitled ‘The Present and Future Role of Investment Treaty Arbitration in Adjudicating Environmental Disputes’. The symposium will be hosted at the faculty of law of the University of Oslo on November 5 and 6, 2015. The symposium will focus on investment treaty arbitration from a...
Plaintiffs have appealed the January 9, 2015 decision of the Southern District of New York, that the United Nations is immune in the case Delama Georges et al. The appeal brief, filed by the International Institute for Justice in Haiti, is available here: Georges v UN - Principal Appellate Brief 5.28 Final. The contentions on appeal are as follows: 1. Whether the...
The ALL CAPS headline of the last few hours involves news that social security and other identifying information for some 4 million U.S. federal workers was compromised in a cyber exploitation that, if one believes the unofficial finger pointing, came at the behest of the Chinese government. Of course, it was just yesterday, that the Council on Foreign Relations' Adam Segal was...
There is no shortage of commentary on the growing US-China tensions over China's land reclamation activities in the South China Sea. I've already added my two cents on the legal aspects here, but it's worth trying to understand China's defense of its actions. Here is China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman at a press conference responding to comments from US and Japanese leaders...
Oxford University Press has just published a massive new book on the ICC, "The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court," edited by Leiden's Carsten Stahn. Here is the publisher's description: The International Criminal Court is a controversial and important body within international law; one that is significantly growing in importance, particularly as other international criminal tribunals close down. After...
Seth Tillman of Maynooth University has a clever "parody" letter (scroll to the bottom) in the most recent Claremont Review of Books. I can't really do it justice here, but it is an amusing take on how modern international law might have critiqued the relentless Allied demands for unconditional surrender by Germany and Japan in 1945. Also, I particulalry appreciate his...
Africa African leaders meeting in Tanzania on Sunday to discuss a political crisis in Burundi triggered by the president's plan to run for a third term called for the postponement of elections by at least a month and a half. The United Nations human rights chief on Saturday urged several countries to intensify their investigations of alleged sexual abuse of young children...
Earlier this week, the Appeals Chamber rejected Cote d'Ivoire's challenge to the admissibility of the case against Simone Gbagbo. The challenge was based on Gbagbo's 20-year sentence for disturbing the peace, forming and organising armed gangs, and undermining state security. Like the Pre-Trial Chamber, the Appeals Chamber concluded that Gbagbo's domestic convictions failed to satisfy Art. 17's "same conduct" requirement, making...
