In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

08 Nov

[Dr Michael Kearney is Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, Politics and Sociology at the University of Sussex.] On 6 November 2014 the Office of the Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court released the report of her preliminary investigation into the Israeli army's attack on a flotilla of ships, which, in 2010, had been sailing towards Palestine with the aim of breaking Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. As a result of this investigation the Prosecutor is of the belief that during the interception and takeover of the ship, the Mavi Maramara, in which ten people were killed, Israeli soldiers committed war crimes. The Prosecutor has decided that further action by the Court is not currently feasible on the grounds that the crimes in question are not of sufficient gravity so as to warrant a full investigation. The following thoughts will address issues arising from the Report other than the actual war crimes. (Due to the manner in which the Report is formatted, and specifically the repetition of paragraph numbers, references to excerpts from the Report's Summary are cited as eg 'para Z ExecSumm'). I don’t think this is an unexpected or an unreasonable conclusion from the Office of the Prosecutor with respect the gravity aspect of a preliminary examination. What this statement should encourage however, is the immediate ratification of the Rome Statute by Palestine. The analysis demonstrates how, while distant from any possibility of alleged criminals taking to the dock in The Hague, the International Criminal Court can play a crucial role in considering Israel’s policies and practices against Palestinians through the lens of criminal justice.
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08 Nov

This week on Opinio Juris, Peter continued his commentary on the Zivotofsky hearing and Kristen posted the transcript of the recent hearing in the Haiti Cholera case. Jens wrote about the DOD's plans for a Defense Clandestine Service, and welcomed the news that President Obama will seek congressional authorization for the ISIS campaign. Kevin discussed the passage in the OTP's Mavi Marmara decision where the OTP...

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07 Nov

According to Marlise Simons at the New York Times, Comoros intends to appeal the OTP's decision not to open a formal investigation into Israel's attack on the MV Mavi Marmara. That's its right -- but it's a right without a remedy, because the judges cannot order the OTP to investigate the attack. The relevant provision in the Rome Statute is Art. 53: 1.        ...

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06 Nov

For those following the developments in the Haiti Cholera Case, the transcript of the October 23, 2014 Oral Argument is now available.   It can be accessed here:  Oral Argument_Cholera Case 10.23. For my takeaway on this important hearing, please see my recent blog here. Perhaps not surprisingly, the hearing garnered significant coverage in the main stream press.  At least one article suggested...

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06 Nov

Huge news coming from the White House last night and today: the President will ask Congress for specific authorization for military action against ISIS. This is a welcome development. The White House had previously argued that military action against ISIS was already authorized under the 9/11 AUMF, the Iraq AUMF, or some combination of both. None of these arguments was particularly convincing....

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05 Nov

As Thomas Escritt has reported for Reuters, the OTP has declined to open a formal investigation into Israel's attack on the MV Mavi Marmara. I will have much more to say about the decision tomorrow; I agree with the OTP's conclusion but have serious problems with much of its reasoning. But I thought I'd tease tomorrow's post by noting that, despite...

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05 Nov

Here is the question: are there any norms governing how many potential supervisors a student looking to apply for a PhD can or should approach? I get a few emails expressing interest in my supervision each month, and they generally fall into three categories: (1) proposals that are clearly directed toward me, because they discuss my work and propose topics I've written about;...

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05 Nov

[Giacomo Pailli is a PhD in comparative law at University of Florence, Italy] Many readers will recall the judgment of the International Court of Justice in Germany v. Italy, where the Court upheld Germany’s claim of immunity under international law vis-a-vis Italy’s exercise of jurisdiction over certain Nazi crimes that had occurred during World War II. The decision received a lot...

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04 Nov

[Nikolaos A. Ioannidis is a doctoral candidate in Public International Law at the University of Bristol] Αs of October 20, a Turkish survey vessel, the “Hayreddin Barbaros Pasa”, accompanied by a frigate of the Turkish Navy, has been carrying out seismic surveys within the continental shelf and the Exclusive Economic Zone (“EEZ”) of Cyprus.The area of operarions is very close to block 9, where the Italian oil company ENI is drilling for hydrocarbons on behalf of the Republic of Cyprus. Although these activities have sparked rigorous reactions on the part of the Republic of Cyprus, the “Barbaros” has yet to terminate its operations. Prior to analyzing the ongoing situation, I’ll begin with a short review of the legal regime of the waters under consideration. According to customary international law and the Law of the Sea Convention 1982 (“LOSC”) a coastal state maintains an inherent right to a continental shelf, which extends up to a distance of 200 nautical miles (“nm”) measured from the coast. In addition, a littoral state is also entitled to claim an EEZ of a breadth of 200nm. In these zones, the coastal state enjoys exclusive sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting the natural resources, either living or non-living, in its seabed and subsoil (articles 58(1)(a), 77(1)(2) and 81). Consequently, no other state can set forth assertions over the natural resources in another state’s maritime zones. Nevertheless, in both the continental shelf and the EEZ the freedom of navigation shall not be hindered (articles 58(1) and 78) as those waters, in essence, form part of the high seas. This is a trade-off aiming at striking a balance between the viewpoints of the great maritime powers on the one hand (which were reluctant to concede expansion of state jurisdiction over the high seas) and the smaller states on the other hand (which sought extended maritime rights in order to safeguard the natural resources of their sea waters).

The Eastern Mediterranean conundrum

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04 Nov

Recent news reports indicate that the Defense Department is negotiating with members of Congress over plans to augment its Defense Intelligence Agency with a Defense Clandestine Service with about 500 undercover officers. The previous proposal had called for about 1000 officers in the clandestine service, but that proposal was met with substantial criticism. This is a major development. There are multiple...

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03 Nov

Transcript of today's argument here. Scalia, Roberts, and Alito are siding with petitioner (and Congress), Kagan and Sotomoyor are with the Government. Breyer, Ginsburg, and Kennedy didn't tip their hands clearly one way or the other. A lot of speech-related framings. Zivotofsky's lawyer argued that allowing "Israel" as a choice for those born in Jerusalem is a matter of self-identification. Kagan...

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03 Nov

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Africa The army takeover in Burkina Faso after President Blaise Compaore's resignation has prompted protests in the capital and international condemnation. Burkina Faso's army cleared thousands of protesters from the capital and opened fire at state TV headquarters on Sunday, killing one person, as it sought to restore order...

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