The NYT Room for Debate blog is kind enough occasionally to invite me to contribute on law topics. It recently held a mini-debate on the question of whether Congress should empanel some kind of “truth commission” to deal with issues of torture and other things from the Bush administration. I was the voice in opposition. Other contributors were David Cole, Michael Ratner,...
Here. And who knew that there was an Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars, and that one can get a master's degree in the field? Public diplomacy's rise among both policymakers and academics has been pretty dramatic. In the government, what used to be a backwater, both in main State's public affairs bureau and in the now defunct US Information Agency, was...
This is a non-substance post just to say thanks from all of us to Richard Gardiner and all the commenters for offering, and to Duncan for organizing, the treaty interpretation symposium this past week. It was marvelously intellectual and subtle and, even having read the book, I am still reading the posts carefully. I think they will be read and...
One of the most important issues in international criminal law is whether a genocidal policy or plan is an element of the crime of genocide. The ICTY Appeals Chamber held in Jelisic that it is not -- and that, as a result, genocide can be committed by a lone genocidaire. Some scholars disagree, most notably Bill Schabas, who pointed out...
Everything you need to know about the majority's dismissive attitude toward the Prosecution's evidence of genocide is contained in this paragraph: 179. In relation to the alleged insufficient resources allocated by the GoS to ensure adequate conditions of life in IDP Camps in Darfur, the Majority considers that the Prosecution's allegation is vague in light of the fact that, in addition...
As you have likely heard by now, the DOJ has released nine more memos from the Bush Administration's Office of Legal Counsel concerning various national security and international law issues. My colleague Brian Tamanaha has read through them and has a post over at Balkinization on why they show that John Yoo's argument that he and his colleagues acted in...
Having now read the decision on the arrest warrant, I am more convinced than ever that the majority completely misunderstands Article 58's "reasonable grounds" requirement. The rationale for the majority's argument that there are no reasonable grounds to believe Bashir is responsible for genocide comes in paras. 158 and 159, concerning the Prosecution's proof of the Sudanese government's genocidal intent...
As we come to the end of our discussion of Richard Gardiner's book and the subject of Treaty Interpretation more generally, I wanted to thank our guest bloggers and, of course, Richard, for what has proven a sophisticated (and hopefully useful) discussion. I have thoroughly enjoyed the examination Isabelle, Malgosia, Jan and Richard brought to bear on issues about the...
Treaties constitute one of the largest effective components of modern international law. Lawyers routinely have to give meaning to their terms. Mostly this is straightforward, but often enough there are interesting difficulties in deciding what the terms mean and how they apply in novel or unexpected situations. I have found all the posts and comments extremely interesting, and I am grateful...
In what proved to be the worst kept secret in the world, the Pre-Trial Chamber (PTC) has decided to issue a warrant for Bashir's arrest on the war crimes and crimes against humanity charges, but not on the genocide charges. More substantive analysis will have to await an explanation of the PTC's reasoning. For now, a couple of quick thoughts. To...
It seems that our discussion these past few days confirms that 40 years after the Vienna Conference the meta-questions relating to treaty interpretation remain unaltered. But perhaps it also appears that the ILC ultimately made the right decision to codify the relatively few basic principles on which agreement could be found. The Commission always made it clear that...
I much enjoyed reading the views of Duncan Hollis on the art element in treaty interpretation and on auto-interpretation. I agree that who it is who is making an interpretation may play a key part in the outcome. That two tribunals arrived at different interpretations of similar “umbrella” provisions in bilateral investment treaties shows this all too vividly (SGS v...
