States and nations are not the same thing. A nation is a "people," itself a difficult concept to define under international law. A state is a recognized political entity that meets certain criteria. International lawyers will tell you that the characteristics of statehood include a defined territory, a government, a permanent population, and the ability to enter into foreign relations. State...
Just when I thought I was beyond being genuinely horrified, Roving Bandit called my attention to a story in Der Spiegel that almost defies words: The ambassadors of the 28 European Union member states had agreed to secrecy. "Under no circumstances" should the public learn what was said at the talks that took place on March 23rd, the European Commission warned...
The game in question -- from which the screenshot is taken -- is entitled Liyla and the Shadows of War. Here is how the gaming magazine Hardcore Gamer describes it: Liyla and the Shadows of War is a short, dark game about exactly what the title implies. You play as a father running home through a war zone attempting to collect...
Russia scored a huge victory today when the Hague District Court in the Netherlands court set aside a $50 billion arbitral award in favor of former shareholders of Yukos. The $50 billion Yukos award (that's BILLION, with a "B"), is the largest arbitration award ever issued, was issued under the authority of the Energy Charter Treaty. The arbitral tribunal (hosted at...
As readers no doubt know, on Tuesday the ICC's Trial Chamber declared a "mistrial" in the case against William Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang. The decision likely puts an end to the fiasco of the Ocampo Six -- now the "Ocampo Zero," to borrow Mark Kersten's nicely-turned expression -- although the Trial Chamber dismissed the charges "without prejudice," leaving the door open for the...
As readers probably know by now, the ICC convicted Jean-Pierre Bemba yesterday of various war crimes and crimes against humanity, including rape as both a war crime and crime against humanity. Commentators are praising the conviction as landmark with regard to sexual violence -- against both women and men. Here, for example, is Niamh Hayes: Today is a very good day...
AJIL Unbound has just published a fantastic symposium entitled "TWAIL Perspectives on ICL, IHL, and Intervention." The symposium includes an introduction by James Gathii (Loyola-Chicago) and essays by Asad Kiyani (Western), Parvathi Menon (Max Planck), Ntina Tzouvala (Durham), and Corri Zoli (Syracuse). All of the essays are excellent and worth a read, but I want to call special attention to Ntina's essay, which is...
Along with more than 200 other lawyers and academics, I have signed an open letter to the UK government criticising the UK's investigatory powers bill -- aka the "Snooper's Charter." Here is the text of the letter: The UK’s investigatory powers bill receives its second reading on Tuesday. At present the draft law fails to meet international standards for surveillance powers....
It's been a rough U.S. presidential campaign season for free traders. Very few of the candidates are willing to voice broad support for free trade and free trade agreements. Populist candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump have made some pretty ugly noises about either violating or withdrawing from existing trade agreements. Although Donald Trump's proposal for 45% tariffs on China...
We are pleased to announce that Opinio Juris will begin an occasional series on international law and Presidential politics. Foreign policy and international law have been a central topic of discussion among the U.S. presidential candidates, and there is much fodder for discussion regarding the fidelity of their positions with the United States’ commitments under international law. The...
Things are not going well for Ukraine. It has lost Crimea, effective control over eastern parts of its territory, its divided government is hampered by corruption which is sparking more internal violence, and its economy is doing poorly. Russia is the cause of many (though not all) of its problems, so it is not surprising that Ukraine is looking to try...
Sorry for the endless self-promotion, but I thought readers might be interested in the following episode of Al Jazeera's Inside Story, which includes a 30-minute panel on siege warfare in Syria that I participated in. It was quite a wide-ranging discussion, focusing less on international law than I expected. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM8PwT9hz3c&feature=youtu.be As always, comments welcome! I hope readers don't think I was too...
