In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

16 Dec

Today and tomorrow, we are joining forces again with the American Journal of International Law to bring you a discussion of Kristina Daugirdas' article, "Congress Underestimated": Using the World Bank as a case study, this article casts doubt on the empirical foundation for the claim that international organizations undermine democracy by undermining legislatures, at least in the United States. The article...

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16 Dec

Your weekly selection of international law and international relations headlines from around the world: Middle East The UN sent its first delivery of humanitarian aid by air to Syria from Iraq and said it plans to deliver more food and winter supplies to the mainly Kurdish northeast in the next 12 days. Yemen's parliament called for a stop to drone attacks in a...

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16 Dec

So, it's official: the ICTY Trial Chamber has decided to let Judge Niang replace Judge Harhoff on the Seselj case: The Trial Chamber on Friday issued a decision on the continuation of the proceedings in the case of Vojislav Šešelj, following the disqualification of Judge Frederik Harhoff and appointment of Judge Mandiaye Niang to the Bench. The Chamber unanimously ordered that the...

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15 Dec

Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Freie Universität Berlin have announced a new joint 3-year interdisciplinary Doctoral Program entitled “Human Rights under Pressure – Ethics, Law and Politics” (HR-UP), funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Einstein Foundation Berlin. HR-UP offers young researchers a unique opportunity to conduct cutting-edge research on the most pressing contemporary challenges for human rights, including issues...

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14 Dec

In my previous post, I questioned Ryan's claim that Amnesty International's totals concerning the number of states exercising universal jurisdiction over at least one international crime "may be significantly inflated." I pointed out that, contrary to what he was asserting, the report did not count a state simply because it it had incorporated the Rome Statute into its domestic legislation; on...

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14 Dec

This fortnight on Opinio Juris, Deborah reminisced about her handshake with Nelson Mandela during her time as a junior White House staffer and Roger posted about the day Mandela was free. Mandela's example was invoked at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Bali, where trade ministers reached their first trade agreement in years. Julian argued that the WTO however does not need the Bali Package...

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13 Dec

Not long ago, Amnesty International released an updated version of its massive study "Universal Jursidiction: A Preliminary Survey of Legislation Around the World." The report concluded, inter alia, that 86% of the world's states exercise universal jurisdiction over at least one kind of international crime. (Most commonly, war crimes.) In a post today at Just Security, my friend and regular sparring...

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13 Dec

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...

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13 Dec

A nice light-hearted exchange at today's U.S. State Department media briefing, which shows some folks in government like Jen Psaki still have a sense of humor. Reporter: “So has the U.S. already issued a visa to Santa?” Psaki: Santa does not need a visa. He has a visa waiver in the United States. (Laughter.) So he can get to every house, and...

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11 Dec

As the political crisis in Ukraine over the government’s decision not to sign an Association Agreement with the EU passes its second week, this conflict and the positioning over other Russian “Near Abroad” countries (especially Armenia, Moldova, and Georgia) are good examples of the interrelationship of norms and geopolitical strategy. The situation has been largely described in terms of Putin’s reaction to...

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