Unless you have just started reading Opinio Juris or have been on a field trip in North Korea, you will have noticed that we recently held our first Readers’ Survey. We are very grateful to all 274 respondents who took the time to complete our questionnaire. Many also entered their name in the sweepstakes for the $100 Amazon voucher. We...
The Syrian army has launched fierce attacks against rebel forces, who had made a stronghold in Damascus. Fighting has also spread to Aleppo. The UN has extended its monitoring mission in Syria another 30 days. The Arab League has called for Syrian President Assad to resign and has offered Assad and his family a safe exit from Syria. Turkey has sent a battery of ground-to-air missiles to its border with Syria. China...
Conferences & Events The University of Leiden will host a conference: International Humanitarian Assistance and International Law, January 24-25, 2013. The aim of the conference is to bring experts in the field of international humanitarian assistance together and to explore various fields of law relating to humanitarian assistance, like international humanitarian law, human rights law, international disaster response law, and other fields. The...
This week on Opinio Juris, Julian Ku discussed how the announcement by two US Senators of their position against ratification of the UNCLOS, has effectively sunk ratification for this year, and argued that the next administration should seek out bilateral agreements to protect commercial exploitation of the seabed on the high seas. Deborah Pearlstein argued why the US, even if it is not at war...
This may be a bit inside baseball for most, but the Pre-Trial Chamber issued an interesting decision yesterday regarding the Office of Public Counsel for the Defence's formal response to Libya's admissibility challenge. According to the PTC, the OPCD wanted some of the information contained in its response to remain confidential not only in perpetuity, but also ex parte. In...
As part of my research on international corruption in a forthcoming article in the Ohio State Law Journal, I came across some interesting studies on the relationship between corruption and democracies. One would think that democratic regimes are less corrupt than autocratic regimes because in democracies public officials are subject to political accountability. But the evidence suggests otherwise....
As we reported earlier this week, today the ICJ will deliver its judgment in the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (Belgium v. Senegal) at 3:00 p.m. in The Hague (CET). The reading of the decision will be broadcast live on the Court's website. France, the United Kingdom and the United States denounced China and Russia's veto on yesterday's Security Council resolution regarding placing...
[Sari Bashi is the executive director of Gisha, an Israeli human rights organization protecting the right to freedom of movement in the occupied Palestinian territory] Last week, a committee appointed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to recommend disposition of about 100 Israeli outposts in the West Bank established in violation of Israeli military zoning laws released its conclusions (English summary...
Fighting is still raging in Damascus, where yesterday many officials were killed by bombing attacks in Syria's capital city. Meanwhile, China remains silent on its position ahead of a UN Security Council vote threatening with non-military sanctions. Al Jazeera offers the profiles of the slain ministers as well as an analysis of how these deaths will affect the regime. Foreign Policy outlines "Assad's...
It looks increasingly likely. Mali has formally self-referred the situation in the country to the ICC and the OTP has already opened a formal preliminary investigation. Here is yesterday's statement from Fatou Bensouda: Today I received a delegation from the Government of Mali led by the Minister of Justice, H.E. Malick Coulibaly. The delegation transmitted a letter by which the Government...
It’s not news that the United States has been actively using armed force in Yemen for some time. The Bush Administration reportedly launched a first drone strike against alleged Al Qaeda targets in the country (with the Yemeni government’s cooperation) back in 2002, and of course multiple reports have described the Obama Administration’s use of drones in the country...
The United States Naval War College’s International Law Department has digitally published Volume 88 of its International Law Studies Blue Book series, entitled "Non-International Armed Conflict in the Twenty-First Century" and it may be downloaded for free from the Blue Book link on the Naval War College International Law Department’s Stockton Research Portal. Additionally, a direct link to the .pdf file...
