It's not every day that a state enacts a law that blatantly authorizes crimes against humanity, so I feel obligated to give a special shout-out to China, who intend to make the crime against humanity of enforced disappearance official government policy: Chinese police will gain new legal powers to detain suspects for up to six months without telling their families...
The legality of NATO's action in Libya seems to me fairly straightforward. I understand that there are some quibbles about whether NATO exceeded its mandate under the UN Security Council Resolutions. But I don't think there is a very strong case, as a question of jus ad bellum. Then again, the hard left (in the form of Dennis Kucinich) and,...
Expect to hear more of this in the next few days from the anti-Obama progressive left. NATO commanders who authorized the Libya bombing campaign should be “held accountable” to international law and hauled before the world court for civilian deaths, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said Tuesday. “NATO’s top commanders may have acted under color of international law, but they are not exempt...
Let's assume that the Libyan rebels do prevail and that they end up capturing Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Does the new Libyan government have a legal obligation to turn him over to the ICC, even if they seek to try him in Libyan courts? Libya is not a member of the ICC Rome Statute, so its only obligation flows from the...
Reacting to the still-imminent fall of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, U.S. presidential candidate (and likely future president if you believe these polls) Mitt Romney has called for the extradition of the mastermind of Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi, to the United States. The demand raises an interesting dilemma. Megrahi was tried and convicted in a special Scottish tribunal set...
Time has an interesting article up about Saif's reappearance in Tripoli. The whole thing is well worth a read, but I was struck by these paragraphs about the ICC: The rebels were not the only ones whose credibility was in doubt on Tuesday. So too was that of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, which has indicted...
So says Saif Gaddafi, who apparently has not been captured by the rebels after all: Muammar Gaddafi's once powerful son, Saif al-Islam, made a defiant appearance in Tripoli last night to disprove the revolutionaries' claim to have arrested him and to proclaim ultimate victory. Saif al-Islam, 39, arrived in an armoured vehicle waving two fingers in a victory sign...
CNN is reporting that Libyan rebels have arrested Saif Gaddafi, Muammar's second-eldest son long thought to be his most likely successor. Saif is one of the three suspects for whom the ICC has issued arrest warrants; the allegations include persecution and murder as crimes against humanity. And it appears that the OTP is already in negotiations with the rebels to...
Our friends at the Cornell International Law Journal have asked me to post the following call for papers. The conference looks great; I'm disappointed that it starts the last day of my summer teaching obligations. The Cornell International Law Journal is pleased to announce its 2012 symposium, Forces Without Borders: Non-State Actors in a Changing Middle East, February 17th–18th, 2012 at...
After 200 years of quiescence, Piracy has re-emerged as a major problem for world shipping. A recent report has documented that Piracy has resulted in more than $12 billion in losses in the past twelve months alone. According to an August 11, 2011 article in the Guardian, Piracy is also significantly hampering food aid to drought-stricken Somalia, resulting in thousands of deaths. Somali...
Apologies for the non-existent blogging of late -- a few weeks ago a car knocked me off my bike, breaking a small bone in my forearm and badly bruising my ribs. I didn't need surgery or even a cast, fortunately, but I haven't been able to type more than a short email until the past few days. This is probably...
It is a great pleasure to be invited to be a guest blogger on Opinio Juris for the next few weeks. Please stay tuned for my upcoming blogs about Somali piracy and the Hosni Mubarak trial later in the week. For my first blog, I want to weigh in on the provocative question of whether the UN Security Council should consider...
