In association with the International Commission of Jurists

International Human Rights Law

07 Feb

As most readers likely know, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism recently released a 22,000 word report documenting the disturbing U.S. practice of using drones to target individuals attending funerals or attempting to provide aid to individuals wounded in previous drone strikes.  Here is the report's central conclusion: A three month investigation including eye witness reports has found evidence that at...

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05 Feb

Over at Lawfare, UVA professor Paul Stephan talks about the ICJ decision in Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy).  He describes the decision, and adds some comment on its implications of the decision for the concept of international civil jurisdiction and Alien Tort Statute litigation in the United States. On Friday, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed a...

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02 Feb

I am delighted to announce that Oxford University Press has just published my dear friend Mark Drumbl's new book, "Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy."  Here is the description: The international community's efforts to halt child soldiering have yielded some successes. But this pernicious practice persists. It may shift locally, but it endures globally. ...

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01 Feb

It's rare that I defend the ICTY, but I feel compelled to do so here.  As discussed in this blog post by Laurie Blank, a group of experts in military law have released a report attacking the Trial Chamber's judgment in Prosecutor v. Gotovina for allegedly misapplying basic IHL rules regarding targeting.  Unfortunately, the report fundamentally misstates what the Trial...

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23 Jan

I don't want to step on the Harvard symposium -- I've moved it back to the top -- but it's worth noting that, on the same day, (1) the Fourth Circuit threw out Jose Padilla's lawsuit seeking damages for his mistreatment while being detained and (2) the U.S. government arrested John Kiriakou, a former CIA officer, for revealing critical aspects...

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23 Jan

Well…maybe not international law directly…but I thought that headline potentially captivating and not misleading. I apologize for a guest post during this excellent Harvard symposium, but Newsweek reports that the Obama administration is finally going to reveal a bit more about its legal authority to target and kill US. citizens (in armed conflict or national self-defense) without a prior judicial...

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22 Jan

The Pre-Trial Chamber II (PTC) has confirmed the charges against 4 of the 6 defendants in the Kenya cases.  The following is from the PTC's oral summary of their decision: Summary of Decision in Case 1 I will now turn to the merits of Case 1, the Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto, Henry Kiprono Kosgey and Joshua Arap Sang...

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20 Jan

It's difficult to accuse these guys of being soft on Tehran, so it's hard to quibble with their conclusion: The intelligence assessment Israeli officials will present later this week to Dempsey indicates that Iran has not yet decided whether to make a nuclear bomb. The Israeli view is that while Iran continues to improve its nuclear capabilities, it has...

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19 Jan

Samuel Morison, Appellate Defense Counsel with the Office of the Chief Defense Counsel, Department of Defense, has posted a superb new esssay on SSRN entitled "Accepting Sosa's Invitation: Did Congress Expand the Subject Matter Jurisdiction of the ATS in the Military Commissions Act?"  Here is the abstract: The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) provides a federal forum for aliens to seek...

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18 Jan

Gabor Rona posted a response to Jens Ohlin yesterday.  Jens responded at LieberCode -- and now Gabor has responded to Jens's response (and John Dehn's comment on his OJ post).  Here is what Jens wrote (reposted with permission): Many thanks to Gabor Rona for taking the time to continue this conversation.  There’s a lot in Rona’s post, but I want to...

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17 Jan

Jens Ohlin has continued the conversation about IHL and IHRL at LieberCode.  Here is a snippet, self-servingly chosen because I want to comment on it: It strikes me as curious that human rights activists are so quick to cabin CIL application of the IHL rules of IAC to NIAC.  To my ear, it is one of the great advancements...

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17 Jan

The following is a guest-post by Gabor Rona, the International Legal Director of Human Rights First.  It is a response to a post at LieberCode by Jens Ohlin, a Professor at Cornell Law School, that argues international human rights law (IHRL) does not apply in armed conflict, because it is displaced by international humanitarian law (IHL). Prof. Ohlin’s conclusion that IHRL...

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