The Arab League has joined the ICRC in warning of a civil war within Syria; a UN envoy bolsters this claim with reports that arms are flowing in both directions between neighboring Lebanon and Syria. Citizens of North Carolina have voted to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions, dealing a setback to LGBT-rights activists and those in favor of equal treatment...
So reports Mark Kersten in a blockbuster post at Justice in Conflict. You have to read the whole thing; here is a taste: While haggling between the ICC and Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) over the fate of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi continues, Libya quietly, but controversially, passed a blanket amnesty for pro-Revolution rebels. According to Lawyers for Justice in...
As I mentioned a few weeks back, I've been collecting treaty clauses for my book, The Oxford Guide to Treaties, on everything from NGO participation in treaties to their denunciation. In doing so, I tried to cast a wide net, sampling treaties from a wide variety of bilateral and multilateral contexts involving all sorts of States and all sorts of subjects....
The National Security Council has confirmed to Al Jazeera that the US has thwarted an airline bombing attempt by Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. There has been a mass defection of Sudanese troops to South Sudan in the clash between the two nations. In other al-Qaeda news, an American aid worker, based in Lahore, has made a video pleading with President...
Things are getting ugly at the ICC. The Office of Public Counsel for the Defence, which has been appointed to protect Saif Gaddafi's interests at the Court, has now moved to disqualify Moreno-Ocampo from Saif's case on the ground that he "lacks the requisite impartiality to direct the investigations and prosecutions" because of his "repeated failure to respect the presumption...
. . . your fourth-grader is being taught about the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Mine had a class last week in which the class was divided into groups, each one given a provision of the treaty, about which they had to develop responses and questions. His group got article 27, recognizing a child's right to an adequate...
The Liberty Forum has just posted a debate on sovereignty in the age of globalization between John Yoo, John Cerone, and yours truly. Here's a taste of the exchange, which I encourage you to read in its entirety. From John Yoo's post: Globalization has led to (1) the explosive growth in international trade; (2) the swift creation of international markets in...
Remarkably big news week last week in U.S. law and security matters – alas one that happened to coincide with the final week of our law school semester. So with apologies for belatedness, I wanted to catch up on a few things I missed, starting with the military commission trial of some of the accused conspirators in the attacks of...
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples concluded his report in the United States Friday, warning that historical wrongs-particularly the loss of lands-continue to have an impact on Native American communities and calling on the US to step up efforts to address injustices. Reports have surfaced of child soldiers in rebel ranks in Mali; Human Rights Watch has a report...
Last week’s announcements can be found here. If you are organizing a conference or other event and would like to see the call for papers or the program announced on Opinio Juris, please contact us. Calls for Papers Applications for the Helsinki Summer Seminar on International Law (August 21-30, 2012 ) on International Law and Capitalism: Exploring the Legal Architecture of the Global Political Economy close...
So reports the media. I, for one, am shocked: it's almost as if KSM has concluded, having been waterboarded (read: tortured) 183 times in one month, that the U.S. might not actually be committed to the highest standards of fairness and justice now. Come on, KSM. Can't bygones be bygones? Heed Obama's injunction: now is the time to look forward, not...
