The Butare trial is the ICTR's largest and longest -- it began in June 2001, involves six defendants accused of genocide, and shows no signs of ending anytime soon. The trial is likely to go on even longer because two of the defendants, former Governor Alphonse Nteziryayo and ex-Mayor Elie Ndayambaje, are ill. And that comes not long after one...
Last month, I noted that the ICTR had formally reprimanded its Prosecutor for failing to disclose exculpatory evidence to the defense in the Military II trial. Now Jerome Bicamumpaka, the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the interim government who is accused of genocide, has made similar allegations: Inspired by this sanction inflicted to the prosecution by another formation of judges, Bicamumpaka...
Amidst all the global celebration regarding the election of Barack Obama there is stark news that Moscow is emerging as a serious resurgent threat to the United States. Within hours of Obama's election Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered the redeployment of missiles on the Polish border. A few United States papers are covering the story, but this report...
The celebrations in Africa (in particular in Obama's father's homeland of Kenya, where scores of newborns have been named Barack or Michelle) have left some introspective: Why has democracy continued to evolve and progress is the U.S., but not here? Mark Leon Goldberg at UN Dispatch links to this letter to the editor from the Guardian in Lagos, Nigeria: What has happened in United States...
While Peggy, Peter and Ken have provided more overarching views of the impact of Obama's election and his coming presidency, those readers ready to get into the weeds of what Obama will do when it comes to international law should check out his responses to an ASIL survey done back when the primaries were still in full swing. You can access...
The New York Times ran a front page story from its lead Guantanamo reporter yesterday. (William Glaberson and Margot Williams, research assistance Andrei Scheinkman, "Next President Will Face Test on Detainees: Some at Guantanamo Called Serious Risks," NYT, Monday, November 3, 2008 (behind reg. user wall), A1; plus a referenced data base of detainees used to analyze the detainee...
Looking for a break from the round-the-clock U.S. election coverage today? Then, check out the news stories coming out of Taiwan this morning. The head of the highest-level PRC delegation to visit Taipei since 1949 has signed a series of instruments with his Taiwanese counterpart on a range of economic topics: Taiwan and China signed a range of deals on Tuesday...
This according to the Sudan Tribune: A senior Chinese official suggested that his country has no plans to introduce a UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution suspending the indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of president Omer Hassan Al-Bashir. China’s special envoy to Africa Liu Guijin told the pro-government daily Al-Rayaam in a rare interview that he toured Washington, Paris and London...
People often complain here in the U.S. about how the nature of presidential campaigns make it hard for complex and sophisticated ideas to get out (and this is a gross understatement). And the media is often blamed. But the candidates are often just as much as fault. Case in point, Senator Obama's silence on what he thinks of the deadly U.S....
"Chucky" Taylor, son of former Liberian President (and current war crimes defendant) Charles Taylor, was convicted Friday in Florida federal court of committing torture when he was with his father in Liberia. What makes Taylor's conviction news (although only news overseas, apparently, since it didn't make any of the leading U.S. newspapers) is that it is the first conviction under the...
I have posted a substantially rewritten version of my essay "Situational Gravity Under the Rome Statute" on SSRN. Here, again, is the abstract: The ICC is often derided as the "African Criminal Court." That criticism cannot easily be dismissed: all of the Office of the Prosecutor's (OTP) current investigations focus on African states -- Uganda, the Central African Republic, the Democratic...
The last few weeks have seen a flurry of news stories on Iraqi political resistance to the "final" text of a U.S.-Iraqi status of forces agreement ("SOFA"). Last week, the main storyline was that the Iraqi Parliament had better accept the agreed text or else, while the Iraqi Parliament gave every indication they would delay any decision till after U.S. and Iraqi elections. This week the new...
