The Institute for War and Peace Reporting's article today about Darfur is entitled "Darfuris' Mixed Feelings Over Bashir Warrant." When I first saw the title, I thought that the article was going to discuss Darfuris who believe that the warrant will undermine the possibility of a lasting peace in the region. My bad: “We are really very happy about the arrest...
Last month, the UNEP Governing Council voted to begin negotiation of a treaty on mercury pollution. The negotiations will start next year and are supposed to conclude in 2013. Meanwhile, negotiations on the future of the international climate change regime will resume next week in Bonn, aimed at reaching an agreement at the Copenhagen Conference in December. The development of any...
In response to my previous posts on the correct interpretation of Article 58, Alex de Waal asked three lawyers to answer the following two questions: 1. Did the Pre-Trial Chamber misinterpret Article 58's "reasonable grounds" standard? 2. If so, does the Prosecution Application establish reasonable grounds to believe Bashir is responsible for genocide? It's an interesting survey. Two of the three lawyers agreed...
As usual, I’m likely last online to note the now-official news of Harold Koh’s nomination to be Legal Adviser at the U.S. Department of State. For what it’s worth, we’d seen it coming. If the Senate has any sense, the nomination will sail through. I can’t imagine a candidate more qualified. Congratulations Dean Koh! And now back...
The IMF is much under discussion these days as the global recession deepens and spreads. I invited Daniel Bradlow (professor at my school, Washington College of Law, and head of our international legal studies program, as well as long time advisor on Africa to the development banks and institutions, and SARCHI professor of international development law at the University of...
Transnational network theory is a very hot topic these days. Part of it is the crossover effect of a new organizing tool from another discipline - we law professors are great hunter-gatherers across many fields - and part of it is a drive to account for new and rising forms of transnational organization and coordination. I have been working fitfully...
It's called The Reckoning, and although I have not had a chance to see it yet -- like New Zealand, Australia lags embarrassingly behind the Northern Hemisphere in getting movies, especially documentaries -- I've heard nothing but good things. It even made Sundance, a tremendous accomplishment for any documentary. Here is the synopsis: Late in the 20th century, in response to...
I knew I wasn't alone in arguing that Bashir deserves to be punished for his crimes: Al-Qaeda number two Ayman Zawahiri urged the people of Sudan to prepare for guerrilla war and for President Omar al-Beshir to "repent," in an Internet video message released on Tuesday. Zawahiri said Beshir's regime is "reaping what it sowed," in reference to the International Criminal Court...
I have received a number of emails from regulars complaining that their comments are being moderated. They are, but not on the basis of their content. Our comment system automatically flags any comment that contains a hyperlink, because spam comments always contain them. We then have to manually approve the non-spam comments, which we try to do as soon as...
More than 150,000 civilians under daily bombardment, with an estimated 2800 already dead (including 500 children) and more than 7000 injured. Water and medicine running short. The advancing forces rejecting a cease fire. And the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights raising concern about potential violations of international human rights and humanitarian law...
Thanks to Peggy for her introduction. It’s a great pleasure to have the opportunity to guest blog on Opinio Juris, which I think has become essential reading for international lawyers. Just recently I heard an ICC prosecutor remark how much his office had been influenced by Kevin Heller’s post criticizing the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision on the genocide charges in the...
At their most recent meeting, the judges of the ICC rearranged the composition of the Court's three Divisions. The new composition is as follows: The judges assigned to the Pre-Trial Division are: Judge Hans-Peter Kaul (Germany), Second Vice-President of the Court; Judge Sylvia Steiner (Brazil); Judge Ekaterina Trendafilova (Bulgaria); Judge Fumiko Saiga (Japan); Judge Sanji Mmasenono Monageng (Botswana); and Judge Cuno...
