I love the Guardian. It's generally a great paper. But its unwillingness to correct even the most basic mistakes constantly amazes me. In an otherwise interesting article about the ICC and environmental crimes, John Vidal and Owen Bowcott -- the Guardian's environment editor and legal affairs correspondent, respectively -- say this (emphasis mine): The ICC can take action if the crime happens...
I have posted the essay on SSRN. Here is the abstract: The question “what is an international crime?” has two aspects. First, it asks us to identify which acts qualify as international crimes. Second, and more fundamentally, it asks us to identify what is distinctive about an international crime – what makes an international crime different from a transnational crime or...
Buzzfeed's Chris Hamby is out today with the first installment of a promised four-part investigative report into the system of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). Like all such reports, it needs a spectacular headline and summary to draw clicks, and this one's a doozy: The Court That Rules the World A parallel legal universe, open only to corporations and largely invisible to everyone...
I have been trying to move on from writing about the blockbuster UN Convention on the Law of the Sea arbitral award on the South China Sea. As our readers know, I have written way too much on this topic lately. But the Chinese government’s outrageous statements criticizing the award deserve one last post from me before I head out...
In addition to my posts here (see below), I have several pieces over the last week discussing different aspects of the South China Sea award up at various outlets across the web universe (I know, I know, I need to stop writing about this topic, but indulge me just a little longer). To briefly recap my various takes, here is a quick...
I have been mildly obsessed with the dispute between the Philippines and China for over three years now. It touches on so many areas of my research interest: international courts, China, and the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea. So I am almost sad that the dispute, at least for legal purposes, finally ended today with the arbitral...
Did you hear the one about Judge de Gurmendi, the President of the ICC, taking bribes for from 2004 on to ensure Omar al-Bashir's indictment? The president of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is facing calls to resign after it emerged that she may have received financial rewards said to be in millions of dollars to ensure the indictment of Sudanese President...
I am delighted to announce that OUP has just published Mark Kersten's new book, Justice in Conflict: The Effects of the International Criminal Court's Interventions on Ending Wars and Building Peace. Here is the press's description: What happens when the international community simultaneously pursues peace and justice in response to ongoing conflicts? What are the effects of interventions by the International Criminal Court...
After about two months of public statements threatening to take the U.S. to the International Court of Justice over frozen Iranian assets, Iran finally instituted ICJ proceedings yesterday under the 1955 U.S.-Iran Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights. Iran alleges in its complaint that the U.S. has violated the treaty's obligations by taking Iranian government assets and redistributing them to...
I read with great interest Jens's excellent post about whether the US attack on the MSF hospital in Kunduz was a war crime. I agree with much of what he says, particularly about the complexity of that seemingly innocuous word "intent." But I am not completely convinced by his argument that reading intent in the Rome Statute to include mental states other than...
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...
We would be remiss here at Opinio Juris if we did not mark today's 70th anniversary of the opening of the International Court of Justice on 18 April 1946 at the Peace Palace in The Hague. I have been fairly critical of the ICJ over the years. Way back in 2005, I complained about the ICJ's molasses-like deliberations. (I also...
