International Human Rights Law

I have uploaded a copy of the report, which was available for a couple of hours on the ICC website but then removed without explanation.  (It's marked public.)  Representatives of the Registry spent five days in Libya in late February and early March, so things could have changed significantly since that time.  Nevertheless, the report paints an interesting -- and...

I have no idea whether it's true, but that's what the BBC is reporting: The International Criminal Court could soon drop its demand that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi be transferred to the Hague for trial, officials have told the BBC. They say the most prominent son of the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi could instead be tried inside Libya but under the supervision...

Moreno-Ocampo's inability to avoid allegations of bias has long haunted his tenure as Prosecutor.  It's impossible to forget, for example, photos of him standing next to the Ugandan President, Youweri Museveni, as he announced that he was investigating the situation in Northern Uganda -- an act that Ugandans widely perceived, rightly in light of the OTP's failure to seriously investigate...

The bankruptcy of the U.S. military-commissions system is currently on full display in the trial of Abd al-Rahim Al-Nashiri.  Readers who can stomach the spectacle of a tortured detainee being prosecuted for imaginary war crimes committed at a time when there was no armed conflict between the U.S. and al-Qaeda anywhere in the world can find excellent coverage of the...

Republican congressman Allan West channeled Joe McCarthy yesterday, telling supporters at a rally that "he's heard" as many as 80 Democratic representatives in the House are members of the Communist Party.  When asked to clarify his remarks, he wouldn't name names -- but he said he was referring to the Progressive Caucus.  No problem, then....

In honor of Ozzie Guillen, the manager of the Miami Marlins, who was forced to apologize today to Miami's Cuban-American community for saying that he admired Fidel Castro's ability to avoid being assassinated by the U.S. for five decades, who said the following? I believe that there is no country in the world including any and all the countries under colonial domination,...

The Texas International Law Journal has published its mini-symposium on Karl Chang's article that argues the law of neutrality provides the applicable legal framework for the United States' conflict with al-Qaeda.  There are two responses to the article: one by Rebecca Ingber, who is currently a fellow at Columbia Law School; and one by me.  Here is the abstract of...

Mr. Davenport makes some very strong claims in his post concerning the OTP's refusal to accept the Palestinian declaration.  Although I am on record with my belief that accepting the declaration would be a terrible political move for the ICC, I have a number of questions about Mr. Davenport's claims.  I hope he will take the time to answer them...

It's not every day that a law review article comes along that combines two of my interests: greenwashing, whereby large corporations pretend to care about the environment in order to distract people from the fact that they are busily destroying it, and Chevron.  So I want to put in a hearty plug for Miriam Cherry and Judd Sneirson's "Chevron, Greenwashing,...

The ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber I (PTC) has rejected Libya's request to postpone the surrender of Saif Gaddafi so that he can be prosecuted domestically for other crimes.  That request was based on Article 95, which reads: Where there is an admissibility challenge under consideration by the Court pursuant to article 18 or 19, the requested State may postpone the...

[Michael Kearney is an LSE Fellow in the Law Department of the London School of Economics] Michael Kearney guest blogs with us to share his knowledge of the Palestinian situation as an external consultant for the Palestinian human rights NGO Al-Haq "I heard from the Americans," Abbas reports. "They said, 'If you will have your state, you will go to the ICC....