The news from Myanmar since 1 February 2021 has been stark – the Myanmar military or the “Tatmadaw” has detained politicians and activists including Aung San Suu Kyi, declared a year-long state of emergency in which the senior general and head of the army, Min Aung Hlaing is essentially in charge of the country. There are reports coming in of force being used against...
Few things bother me more than journalists who seemingly cannot be bothered to accurately describe what the ICC does. Here is what Isabel Kershner, a Jerusalem correspondent for the New York Times, wrote about the Pre-Trial Chamber's recent decision that the Court has jurisdiction over the situation in Palestine (my emphasis): Dealing a severe diplomatic blow to Israel, the court ruled...
[Liana Georgieva Minkova recently defended her PhD at the Department of Politics and International Studies, University of Cambridge, UK, and holds a full award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Doctoral Training Partnership.] The Ongwen trial judgment was delivered on February 4th at the International Criminal Court (ICC), setting a number of important precedents for the Court: the first conviction resulting from the investigation in Northern...
[Hayley Evans (@HayleyNEvans) is a 2019 J.D. graduate of Harvard Law School and an incoming Research Fellow at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law. Priscyll Anctil Avoine (@Cyppp_) is a PhD candidate in Political Science and Feminist Studies at Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada) and the director of Fundación Lüvo, a feminist and antiracist collective.] In Colombia, the COVID-19 crisis has seriously complicated an already tense humanitarian setting. As of...
[Srinivas Burra is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University, New Delhi.] Agreements facilitating humanitarian access to persons deprived of liberty play a significant role in promoting humanitarian principles in armed conflict situations. This post deals with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the consequences of its non-compliance. Premised on the...
[Parisa Zangeneh is a PhD student at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland, Galway and the Editorial Assistant of Opinio Juris, and Sharon Pia Hickey is an international human rights lawyer focusing on the death penalty, gender equality, and the rule of law. Both authors are former employees of the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide.] Lisa Montgomery, a severely...
Six important African NGOs have sent a letter to the Bureau of the Assembly of States Parties offering their enthusiastic endorsement of Karim Khan's candidacy for ICC Prosecutor. The signatories are Club des Amis du droit du Congo (DRC); Ligue pour la paix, les droits de l’homme et la justice (DRC), Bureau d’études et de réflexions pour le bien être...
[Natalie Alkiviadou is a Senior Research Fellow at Justitia (Denmark) working on the Future of Free Speech Project.] I like social media. I am an avid fan of free speech (I research it for a living). I also like humour, parody and satire. I like to laugh (especially in current times I think it’s good for one’s health). I also like to be informed through laughter. But...
[Dov Jacobs, Joshua Kern and Daniel Reisner appear as amici curiae on behalf of the IJL in the ongoing proceedings before Pre-Trial Chamber I of the ICC in the Situation in Palestine. The IJL Brief before PTC I is available here. The Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision remains sub iudice.] On 19 November 2020, it was reported that the Palestinian Authority will resume civil and...
[Yuzuki Nagakoshi is a Visiting Professional at the International Criminal Court.] The most recent revision of court rules on third-party interventions at the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (“the Court” “ACtHPR”) may greatly impact the fate of African indigenous communities. Through this revision, not only interested State Parties but also interested non-State actors can request to intervene in ongoing proceedings based on Rule 61...
[Sheila Paylan is an international human rights lawyer and former legal advisor for the United Nations.] On 3 December 2020, the French National Assembly joined the French Senate in passing resolutions nearly unanimously calling on the French government to recognize the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic and use such recognition as an instrument of negotiations for the establishment of a sustainable peace. The French Parliament thus became the first...
[Nasia Hadjigeorgiou is an Assistant Professor in Transitional Justice and Human Rights at UCLan Cyprus. Her monograph, published by Hart in 2020, focuses on the protection of human rights as a peacebuilding tool in four post-violence societies (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Northern Ireland and South Africa).] The Committee on Missing Persons The Committee on Missing Persons (CMP or Committee) in Cyprus is an institution that was formally established in...