Following the EU's example yesterday, the US has recognized Syria's opposition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people and many more world powers are poised to do the same at the “Friends of the Syrian People” conference opens today in Morocco. Human Rights Watch has a report of the Syrian government using incendiary bombs on at least four occasions since mid-November in...
Well, bibliography is too grand for what I've done over at Lawfare, which is put up a list of articles and reports, with links and a brief description, of documents currently in the debate over the regulation of autonomous weapon systems. I will update it periodically - I won't start adding older documents, but as new things come out I'll...
It's that time of year when things get really busy in the law school environment (not to mention the pre-holiday press of government service, firm work, etc.). So, for those of you looking for a momentary break from the memo-drafting, exam-writing, grading, article research, whirlwind of holiday events, etc., I submit to you -- Jimmy Fallon on treaties. The routine...
The WTO General Council yesterday approved Tajikistan's accession package, opening the way for membership 30 days after ratification of the package by Tajikistan. The ACLU will file a petition this morning with the Inter-American Human Rights Commission over the treatment of Jose Padilla by the US government since his designation as 'enemy combatant' in 2001. Mali's Prime Minister resigned after the military arrested him for not...
Today is International Human Rights Day; 64 years ago, the UN Declaration of Human Rights was signed. The Empire State Building in New York will be illuminated in blue today to honor the work of Human Rights Watch. Also today, and with the end of the year fast approaching, Amnesty International has released its year in human rights for 2012. The 18th...
In case you missed it, the past week saw the announcements that both Pentagon General Counsel Jeh Johnson and State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh would be stepping down from the Obama Administration at the end of the year. Johnson reports he’ll be returning to the private sector; Koh will head back to his professorship at Yale Law School. ...
Upcoming Events The American Society of International Law's Domestic Courts Interest Group is hosting its annual workshop December 10, 2012, at Duke University School of Law. More information can be found here. On December 18, at 5:30pm, the Center on the United States and Europe at Brookings will host the 9th Annual Raymond Aron Lecture, a talk on “The Internationalization of Law” by Collège de...
According to Enough!, the OTP is investigating the actions of M23 and "other parties" in the DRC: In the aftermath of the March 23 Movement, or M23, seizure of Goma, the International Criminal Court, or ICC,Chief Prosecutor Fatoua Bensouda announced that her office is investigating "allegations of ICC crimes by members and leaders of M23, and by other parties taking advantage of the chaos...
In response to Julian Ku's post here on the potential legal justifications for the U.S. to use force against Syria in the event Assad turns to chemical weapons, Daniel Bethlehem sent along the following. Daniel Bethlehem practices in London and served as Principal Legal Advisor to the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office from 2006-2011. Julian Ku suggests that "[a]ssuming no...
This week on Opinio Juris, we continued a few conversations from last week. Kevin Jon Heller clarified his argument about the retroactive acceptance of the ICC's jurisdiction, and challenged the assumption that Palestine was not a state before last week's UNGA vote. Deborah Pearlstein advanced three reasons for the importance of Jeh Johnson's recent speech on the conditions for calling an...
In my essay on signature strikes, I criticize (and I'm not alone) the U.S. practice of considering military-age males in an area of known terrorist activity to be lawful targets. That signature, however, pales in comparison to the possibility that the U.S. is targeting "children with potential hostile intent," as well: The US military is facing fresh questions over its targeting policy in Afghanistan after...
In the NYTimes.com's Room for Debate forum, I offer reasons for supporting U.S. ratification of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Unlike most supporters (like a certain Comedy Central personality), I don't think the opponents are crazy nutcases. (For a more sensible, but less amusing take, take a look at co-blogger Peter Spiro's contribution to the...
