My thanks to Adil Haque for his response to my post. Adil and I rarely disagree in any profound way about IHL, so it's enjoyable to spar with him about whether a first-strike by government forces against an organized armed group automatically creates a NIAC -- thus triggering IHL -- or whether a certain intensity of hostilities between the two is...
I have been following with great interest the debate at Just Security between Adil Haque and Jonathan Horowitz over whether the existence of a non-international conflict (NIAC) exists the moment a state launches a "first strike" at an organized armed group or whether hostilities of a certain intensity between the two are required. Adil takes the former position (see here, here, and here);...
As part of its “ICTY Legacy Dialogues” events, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (“ICTY”) is organising in the week of 19 June 2017 a conference on the legacy of the ICTY in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina. We invite your participation. With the ICTY’s closure scheduled for 31 December 2017, the conference aims to enable others to build on...
The inimitable David Bosco dropped quite the bombshell yesterday at FP.com: The Office of the Prosecutor at the ICC intends to open a formal investigation into the situation in Afghanistan -- a situation that includes, as the OTP discussed in its most recent preliminary-examination report, US torture of detainees between 2003 and 2005. I'll have more to say about the...
I want to call readers' attention to Oxford University Press's publication of my friend Kim Priemel's new book, The Betrayal: The Nuremberg Trials and German Divergence. Here is the publisher's description: At the end of World War II the Allies faced a threefold challenge: how to punish perpetrators of appalling crimes for which the categories of 'genocide' and 'crimes against humanity'...
I have posted a short article on SSRN, entitled "Taking a Consenting Part: The Lost Mode of Participation." Here is the abstract: This short article, my contribution to a special issue of the Loyola International and Comparative Law Review commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trial, critically examines “taking a consenting part” in an international crime – a mode of...
I know pointing out stupid things Donald Trump says is a fool's errand -- pretty much everything Donald Trump says is stupid. (Note to non-hack conservative friends: I genuinely feel sorry for you.) But I'm struck by how little attention pundits have paid to this gem: I think that once the nuclear alternative happens, it's over. At the same time, we have...
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...
PassBlue published a very disturbing article yesterday about nominations for five vacant UN Special Rapporteur positions. According to the article, although the President of the Human Rights Council, South Korea's Choi Kyonglim, has endorsed four of the selection committee's five first choices, he has refused to endorse its first choice for Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Karim...
[Shehzad Charania was the Legal Adviser and Head of International Law at the British Embassy in The Hague between January 2013 and August 2016. The views set out in this article are personal, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the British Embassy or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.] Earlier this year, the King of the Netherlands opened the new...
I'm delighted to announce the publication of two new essays. The first is "The Use and Abuse of Analogy in IHL," which is a chapter in Jens's edited book for CUP, "Theoretical Boundaries of Armed Conflict and Human Rights." I'm very proud of the essay -- and all of the contributions to the book are excellent. The second publication is my article "Radical...
